


The Song of Penthesilea

by swirlybutt-mcmangocunt (pumpkinqueene)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bukkake, Choking, Cunnilingus, Exhibitionism, Gangbang, Hair-pulling, Humiliation, Intercrural Sex, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Objectification, Oral Sex, Public Sex, Rutting, Squirting, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Worldbuilding, tit fucking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-06-10 13:33:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 37,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6958681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pumpkinqueene/pseuds/swirlybutt-mcmangocunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jasper over the span of twenty five years; from creation, up to the outbreak of the Gem War. Told in three parts over ten acts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Exposition

Act I: From the labrys-cleaved brow

 

She didn’t look like the others.

That was what they told her when she squeezed out of the rock, too big for the extraction hole they had carved out for her. She remembered how she had panicked when the fit proved too tight, lashing out and thrashing confusedly until she had burst out like a bird from its egg; shattering and cracking the rock around her. She remembered the alarm in the technicians’ eyes, and the way the other quartzes had taken in her naked form with confusion. She remembered cold stone and fear and the instinctive knowledge that those destabilisers were dangerous, and that the gems who were pointing them at her weren’t friendly.

Nobody could understand why she was the way she was, and nor could Jasper. All she knew was that she was wrong. She was taller than most of the others by head and shoulders, and they told her she was a jasper, even though she looked nothing like any of the other gems of her type. Her hair was pale, her body was the wrong colours, and- most damning of all- she was soft.

Defective, they had said, and marked her down for crushing. It should have ended there for her; kneeling on bare rock, naked but for the mane she clutched around herself to shield her vulnerability as she was pronounced worthless. She had accepted it with equanimity and detachment. She hadn’t seen enough of the world to want to stay in it, and going back to sleep seemed a more palatable alternative to this cold scrutiny.

In the end, a quartz had saved her. She was an enormous black creature, at least two heads taller and wider than Jasper; chiselled and stocky with limbs like tree-trunks and a shock of wild black hair. She was observing Jasper with an unfathomable look in her black and gold eyes, but there was no hostility there- only curiosity, and other, unidentifiable emotions. Rather unusually, her gem was perched at the end of one of her great tusks. Jasper had to wonder how this quartz could speak so clearly past this obstruction.

“At least test her out before you shatter her,” the quartz said. Later, Jasper would come to learn that she was called Serendibite, and she was a jovial, cocky, physically-demonstrative general in Yellow Diamond’s armies, who took a genuine interest in the soldiers under her command; but, at the moment, she was just another nameless face to fear.

“She’s soft,” a broad-chested obsidian observed with a huff. Deep within Jasper, some instinct railed against this dismissal, and she lifted her head with a rumbling snarl.

“She’s also one of the biggest quartzes we’ve ever extracted from any kindergarten,” a peridot piped up meekly, clutching a dossier to her chest. Her wide eyes kept flitting between Jasper and the other quartzs, as if she was uncertain who she should fear more.

“Rose Quartz is soft,” Serendibite said firmly, “I don’t think any of us would be stupid enough to fight her one-on-one. And amethysts are pretty soft too. Sure, jaspers are supposed to be nothing but muscle, but I want to see what this one can do before we count her out. We’re testing her,”

Even from the outset, it was clear that she was in charge. Jasper, newborn though she was, could hardly have failed to notice this. The other gems submitted to this black gem’s will, even though many of them were blatantly sceptical. It made Jasper want to destroy them; a surprisingly savage thought which gave her pause for a moment. She couldn’t understand where this aggression was coming from, but she could sense that it was integral to her very being. There were things she knew and felt which were programmed into her, like speech and walking and the need to fight. Her hackles rose without conscious thought, as she uncurled her massive form and drew herself up to full height. Her hair fell to her knees, swept behind her like a lion’s mane. She was revealed to them in all her nakedness. Every soft line, from the spread of her massive hips to the heavy swell of her breasts, fell under the scrutiny of her peers and superiors; but she held her ground. Her fists were as powerful as any belonging to one of these chiselled quartzs. Let them come. She would destroy them.

“When I give the signal,” Serendibite called, “Batch 18CPX4, attack until I say otherwise. If she does well, I’ll sign her off, and she’ll be given a designation. Anyone who continues after I have ordered otherwise will get a personal ass-kicking from me. Understood?”

There was a unanimous murmur of grudging assent, but nobody was prepared to argue with her. Mutinous petulance was the extent of their rebellion.

“Those things are gonna hinder her,” an amethyst pronounced grimly, pointing at Jasper’s chest.

“Yeah, but you wanna get your mouth on ‘em, don’t you?” the onyx beside her leered, nudging her comrade in the side with an elbow. A wave of filthy laughter and wolf-whistles rose up, smattered with the odd embarrassing comment which raised the colour on Jasper’s cheeks. However, more potent than embarrassment was her anger, and she leaned on it now like a crutch.

“The only thing you’re getting your mouth on is my foot, when I’m kicking your teeth in!” she spat. These were the first words she had ever spoken. They cut the merriment brutally short, ending all laughter and catcalls until the only sound was the wind whistling through the canyon. She would not be cowed by their glowers.

“Great Diamonds,” someone murmured.

Suddenly, a bark of laughter broke through the tension.

“Oh shit, I really want you to nail this now, sweetheart,” Serendibite snorted, wiping her eyes, “You’d fit right in,”

“I want to nail her,” a carnelian said, provocatively meeting Jasper’s glower head-on.

“Yeah, and speaking of fitting in…,” a nearby prasiolite added suggestively, with a smirk on her pale green lips. Jasper couldn’t pretend to understand what these gems were alluding to, but it was clear that she was the butt of some sort of lewd joke- and she didn’t like it.

“Hey, you horny fuckers!” Serendibite called, clapping her massive hands together as the sniggering showed signs of renewal, “Focus- and I don’t mean on her tits, before you start, Ginger,”

A red-haired jasper shrugged unapologetically.

“I’ll try, Serendi,” she grinned. It was patently obvious that she wasn’t trying at all.

“What about her puss?” someone else asked.

“Get her to turn around. I wanna see if that ass is as thick as the rest of her,”

“Gems, Cheeks, what’s with you and asses?”

“It’s where my gem is. I got a special connection,”

“Batch 18CPX4, shut up about asses and get into position before I kick yours,” Seredibite interjected with a long-suffering sigh. The quartzes finally shuffled into line, forming a solid, multi-coloured wall of muscle and hair. Jasper made certain that her responding sneer was as unimpressed as she could make it.

“Alright, on my mark,” Serendibite called, “Fists and feet only. She hasn’t got a weapon, so none of you get one either,”

“I dunno, Serendi, I’ve got a pretty big one right here for her,” a barrel-chested chalcedony said, cupping her own crotch and thrusting suggestively into her hand. With grim determination, Jasper decided that this one would fall first.

“Nobody’s whipping anything out of their pants,” Serendibite said, “Or I’ll rip it off, and you’ll have to explain why you needed to regenerate before you left the kindergarten to your new C.Os,”

She delivered the threat like a punchline, but there was no question that she was serious. She was smiling jovially, with eyes as hard as granite. When Jasper was older, and had learned more about the murky world of intercaste politics, she would realise that Serendibite wasn’t a gem who had attained her rank through political wrangling and knowing the right people. Serendibite was in charge because she was just that good, and the respect she engendered from her warriors was hard-earned. It was a delicate balancing act between the fellow, rough-housing, crude, horny soldier, and the brilliant general who could one day be responsible for their deaths on some distance bloody battlefield; but she straddled the line supremely.

However, newly-extracted Jasper could only appreciate Serendibite’s effortless good humour and integrity. As long as a gem didn’t cross her, Serendibite was a reassuring, moderating presence, and Jasper now clung to that gratefully.

“Chill, Serendi, we’re fucking around,” a thick-set amethyst said, hasty and defensive, “You know we don’t roll like that,”

“Yeah, but does she?” Serendibite lifted an eyebrow and nodded towards Jasper, “A newborn, naked out of the rock, who only knows that you all want to stick your dicks in her. It probably doesn’t feel like a joke from where she’s standing,”

Like ground frost, a chill crept over the canyon as the implication behind Serendibite’s words dawned on the young quartzes. Nobody was laughing anymore.

“Now, for the last damn time,” Serendibite said, folding her burly arms across her chest, “Into formation, and attack on my signal. Three…two…one…go!”

Jasper smashed ten of them into clouds of smoke before Serendibite called them to a halt, but she didn’t relent. Fury shot through her body like acid, burning her up into a frenzied, instinctual rage. She hadn’t yet learned how to control herself, and now she unleashed all of that untempered power onto the gems who had mocked her. Her rampage was only terminated when Serendibite herself intervened, pinning Jasper face down on the ground with all of that prodigious strength. Even this could not sate Jasper’s incandescence. She hissed and yowled like a wolverine, snarling, clawing at the rock beneath her as she writhed against Serendibite’s hold. The arm around her throat tightened, but she pushed against it stubbornly. With her legs effectively immobilised, she resorted to shoving her hips back, in a fruitless attempt to break Serendibite’s hold. Dimly, she realised that the only reason she hadn’t been effortlessly smashed into smoke by now, was that Serendibite was trying to avoid harming her.

“I don’t think she’s getting the picture, Serendi,” someone said. For some reason, she sounded amused. “Need a hand?”

“I’ve got it covered,” Serendibite grunted, wriggling her arm underneath Jasper to grip her more securely, “Gems, where the fuck is your stomach? Your torso is ninety per cent tits. This is ridiculous,”

Jasper responded by sinking her teeth into the arm at her throat and grinding down viciously. She tasted grit and grim satisfaction as Serendibite swore profusely, loosening her hold. However, the reprieve was short-lived. There was a flash of white light, and then an aggressive, black-studded kanabo was forced against Jasper’s throat and held there by with the strength of two powerful hands. She growled; a low, feline rumble which seemed to shake the air around them- but, both figuratively and literally, her fangs were smaller than Serendibite’s. Finally, she conceded defeat.

“You’re done?” Serendibite panted. Jasper bared her throat in grudging surrender and nodded tightly. “Oh, thank fuck for that,”

“She nearly had you there,” a squat, woolly-haired smoky quartz noted, dropping down onto her haunches in front of them, “Hey girl,”

Pinned though she was between Serendibite’s bulk and the kanabo at her throat, Jasper still managed to snap her jaws at this grinning gem, who wasn’t even troubling to hide the lewd outline of her hard cock as it strained against her breeches.

“Put that thing anywhere near me, and I’ll bite it off,” Jasper hissed. She had no idea what it was used for, but she was starting to develop a disturbing suspicion.

“Frizz, what the fuck did I say?” Serendibite demanded, “Dicks away!”

“Yo, I wasn’t going to try anything!” Frizz grumbled, adjusting herself, “I can’t help it. She’s a wild, vicious bitch, and it kind of looks like you’re mounting her. Not gonna lie, I think even the techies have fear boners right now,”

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at a cluster of blushing peridots, who were peering out from behind a boulder.

“Sure. But you’re going to have to understand that you’re acting pretty threatening right now,” Serendibite pointed out, “She’s naked and immobilised; you’re waving your dick in her face. Get it now?”

“Oh shit! Yeah,”

Regret and comprehension were written into Frizz’s grimacing face, but Jasper was still unsure as to whether or not she was in a forgiving mood. Now that the flames of her anger had been quashed, she was embarrassed by her behaviour; yet she couldn’t forget the fear she had hastily swaddled in rage when she had realised she was the focus of everyone’s predation.

“Sorry,” Frizz offered, standing up to take several steps back.

“Go and crush yourself,” Jasper replied.

“Yeah…I deserved that,” Frizz shrugged, “Do you think she’s ok to go free, or is she gonna beat the shit out of another batch of quartzes?”

Even Jasper didn’t know the answer to that question, so it was understandable that Serendibite paused to consider her options. She was clearly committed to preserving Jasper’s life (due to the enhanced abilities Jasper had just displayed, which could only be an asset to Homeworld’s military); but she had also witnessed Jasper’s wilful disobedience and destructive aggression, and was trying to decide whether the advantages outweighed the risks.

Now that Jasper’s survival instincts had been awoken, she found the thought of her own demise extremely unpalatable. If she wanted to be given the chance to live, she knew what she had to do.

“I…apologise…for my behaviour,” she said. The words were like rock dust in her mouth; ashy, cloying, and gritty. “It won’t happen again,”

As the silence stretched, Jasper began to wonder if she had shelved her pride for nothing. She held her retraction just behind her gritted teeth, ready to spit it out in Serendibite’s face if she was consigned to the crusher after all. Now that she had tasted life (no matter how briefly), she would not return to oblivion meekly.

A sigh stirred her hair- and then the pressure on her throat vanished in white light as Serendibite tucked her kanabo back into her gem. Jasper remained where she was, even when she was released.

“You there! Peridot!” Serendibite barked, standing before Jasper with her hands planted on her hips, “Get her a designation!”

A tiny green thing, whose gem gleamed in the hollow of her throat, tottered to Serendibite’s side, urged on by her nervous caste members.

“Are…are we certain she’s a jasper?” the peridot asked nobody in particular.

“Yes!” another peridot snapped, “I know which mineral composition I injected into the ground, and, frankly, I can’t believe that you, of all gems-!”

“Alright, she’s a jasper!” Serendibite boomed, shaking dust from the cliffs with the force of her voice, “Give her a damn designation and take your petty-ass squabble someplace else!”

To their credit, the peridots flinched only briefly, before their shock gave way to affront. Their tiny green faces, pinched up with tight-lipped petulance, would have been funny if Jasper didn’t admire their extreme courage in the face of Serendibite’s irritation. Then again, Serendibite didn’t strike Jasper as the type of gem who threw her weight around and commanded respect through fear. She had proven that when she had refrained from harming Jasper. These peridots probably knew that Serendibite would never lay a finger on them.

In which case, all of their trembling up until now must have been due to Jasper herself. Jasper couldn’t pinpoint why, but it bothered her that they viewed her with such trepidation.

“Urgh, fine,” the peridot with the throat gem grumbled, rolling her eyes. She called up her holoscreen and attacked it with her floating fingers, somehow managing to make her every action contemptuous. A few swipes later, she dismissed it with a snort.

“You have been designated Jasper Facet A7LC Cut 1X7,” the peridot reeled off in one breath, “In accordance with Diamond Proclamation C45-987, I am authorised to inform you…,”

Ashamed though she would be if anyone were to find out, Jasper tuned the peridot out at this moment. Her wary attention was fixed on bigger threats: the quartzes gathering up their comrades’ gems, their cool appraisal of her somehow just as threatening as their lewd remarks; Serendibite herself, purely genial until her patience ran out; the looming crouch of the spindly injectors, and the rattling groan of a monstrous machine marked “For the disposal and subsequent recycling of defective specimens, by order of the Great Diamond Authority”. Compared to all of that, the little bureaucrat in her standard-issue uniform was a negligible threat.

Jasper’s inattention nearly cost the little peridot her physical form. The peridot produced a slender green instrument and pointed it at her gem; and, in her distraction and fearing an attack, Jasper clammed up and lashed out, swinging her huge fist right at the peridot’s head. Her momentum was impossible to stay. It could, however, be blocked- which is how the peridot got to keep her head intact. The ropy muscles of Serendibite’s forearm stopped Jasper’s fist dead in its tracks with a meaty thump.

“You weren’t listening,” Serendibite observed. She seemed irascible, and abruptly gripped Jasper’s wrist in her fist, squeezing warningly. Then, she turned to the frozen peridot with a softer look. “You’re dismissed. I’ll imprint her designation,”

When the peridot had rushed away, Serendibite wasted no time in grabbing Jasper by the shoulders and turning her about.

“You need to take this seriously,” Serendibite growled into her face, “We’re giving you the benefit of the doubt here. Don’t prove our faith misplaced,”

Once again, the urge to bare her throat arose within Jasper’s gut- but this time, it wasn’t grudging, seething surrender she felt. It was hot and liquid, like the drip of a broken injector core. It spread throughout her body, pouring into all of her cracks and crevices until she felt herself tremble.

“I’m sorry,” Jasper said insincerely, driving her throat hard against the points of Serendibite’s tusks. She whined at their sharp nick, and whined again when they were taken from her. She was so warm, and there was a strange smell in the air; something heavy and spiced. She parted her lips to catch it on her tongue, sighing as her mouth filled with drool.

“Oh fuck,” Serendibite swore, pushing her to arm’s length heedless of her wordless protests, “Alright. You’re…that’s…that smell…that’s heat. Definitely…heat,”

“Who the shit goes into heat an hour after extraction?” a bloodstone sniggered into her brown-speckled hand, “Oh man. I can’t wait to get into a pile with this gem. How you doing, Serendi?”

“Fuck off, Sunny,” Serendibite scowled, struggling against Jasper’s hazy, amorous advances while trying to avoid touching her anywhere inappropriate, “I could use some help,”

“So…do you want me to fuck off or help you?” Sunny grinned, “Oh wow. She’s really going for it, huh? How are you keeping your dick down?”

“I’m not,” Serendibite grunted, batting Jasper’s hands away from her extremities. There was a deep green flush across her black cheeks, and she was tenting her breeches, but, to Jasper’s frustration, Serendibite showed no signs of surrender.

“Same,” Sunny said breezily, “You should probably get her in into lockdown before she sets the rest of us off- or realises she’s got fingers. Not that watching her fuck herself wouldn’t be fifty kinds of hot, but- Oh.Well, shit. That’s one way to do it, I guess,”

Jasper hadn’t realised that her fingers were a viable alternative to the touch of another gem, but she had realised that straddling Serendibite’s muscular thigh and jerking against her in tight little circles provided the sweet relief she was searching for in her desperate state. She clutched at Serendibite’s shoulders with both hands, hooking her claws in deep; felt a hitched inhale, the involuntary jerk of pelvis, and the fat cock against her inner thigh. Her tight nipples rubbed against cloth, and she moaned. She didn’t know what she was doing, or why, but she knew it felt better than enduring this hot fluid ache at her core. She needed something- something to reach into her and drag it out.

“Get your ass over here and help me!” Serendibite snapped, roughly extricating Jasper’s red claws from her shoulders, “Oi, jasper! Let go, or I’ll have to make you,”

Her answer was the acute pain of teeth at the junction of shoulder and neck, and continued erratic grinding on her thigh. It took three quartzes to drag Jasper away. Serendibite was left with a livid bitemark, two lines of oozing furrows in her shoulders, a hard-on she could chisel granite with, and a soaked thigh.

Jasper fought back against the quartzes’ hold only briefly, before she seized upon one of them- a hefty, orange-haired ametrine- and decided that she would do in place of Serendibite.

“Oh, hey sweetheart,” the ametrine laughed, “I’m flattered and all, but you are out of your damn mind right now, and I don’t fuck gems who can’t consent. I need to know you’re down for it in the pre-heat stage, you feel?”

“I think she feels,” Sunny snorted, watching the ametrine struggle away from Jasper’s fervent hand as it settled on her crotch.

“Alright, that’s enough fucking around,” Serendibite barked, before Sunny could make any more pithy comments, “We need to get her into lockdown right now, or somebody’s going to come away from this shit with damage. Not her fault, of course- and not ours either. You three, grab a limb each. I’ll take the one that’s left. We’ll carry her there,”

Theoretically, this should have been easy. Four strapping quartzes should not have had a problem incapacitating and transporting a delirious newborn in the midst of her first heat. Yet Jasper resisted fiercely. She twisted her wrists and bent her knees, lashing out and snarling and gnashing her jaws at any body part which came to close. She bucked her hips and growled, writhing as far as she was able as they struggled to keep a firm grip on her sweaty limbs. She hissed graphic threats through her teeth, and then begged for their touch moments later. It was unsurprising that, by the time the four quartzes managed to pitch her into a dark vault and close her in, they were panting and perspiring.

“Think she’ll be OK in there?” the ametrine asked, wiping the sweat from her brow.

A tremendous roar and the boom of a fist crashing into four feet of titanium door shook the chasm floor like an earthquake. The vault entrance bowed outwards, as if it was crafted from nothing more than tin plate.

“Get the destabiliser field up!” Serendibite said, “Now!”

It took precious seconds for one of the quartzes to activate the barrier, which gave Jasper enough time to make new, sizeable dent in the door. A sudden electric hum gave her pause as she pulled back for another punch. In the darkness, she watched the translucent green projection crackle to life a hairs breadth from the end of her gem. Whatever it was, it had been created to keep her trapped. Gingerly, she reached towards it with the tip of a finger- this so-called “heat” had made her irrational, not senseless- and leapt back with a dismayed hiss as white-hot pain lanced through her hand. Yet even this was eclipsed by the fierce throbbing between her legs- a sensation she knew could be soothed by one of the gems who had put her in here. She was all swollen and protuberant down there; hot and wet and loose, as if in anticipation of something sliding into her. It hadn’t been difficult for her to work out that those long thick appendages some of the other gems concealed in their breeches would fit perfectly- particularly after all of their crude allusions. But they were out there, and she was in here; corralled like a beast with no hope of finding relief.

“Let me out!” she ordered, reaching towards the barrier again, “Now!”

Apart from the buzz of the destabilising field, and the rasp of her own voice, there was only silence.

“You want to stick it in me, right?” she wheedled, unsure if they could even hear her through the door, “I’d let you. I’d let any of you- all of you. You can do what you want, I don’t care. Come on, I need it,”

“Diamond’s balls,” someone swore, before she was shushed by her companions.

“We’re supposed to be ignoring her,” one of them muttered.

“Well, excuse me for being kind of shocked by the new gem begging for a platoon’s worth of dick,” the first gem grumbled.

“She doesn’t mean it,” a new voice chimed in, “She’s out of her mind with heat. She’d say anything to get what she wants- and she’d regret it afterwards,”

“I know that, asshole!”

“Hey, calm down, you three!” Serendibite’s voice cut in, her deep growl pulsating through Jasper’s belly and down between her thighs. She heaved a shuddering gasp, clenching up with a wet rush which dampened her legs. Her face was hot, but she shivered nonetheless.

“Jasper?” Serendibite called, “Can you hear me?”

Just in time, Jasper stopped herself from reaching through the barrier to lay her hand against the titanium door.

“Yes,” she said, “Are you going to let me out?”

“No,” Serendibite said. She sounded utterly, uncompromisingly resolute, but Jasper wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“You want to touch me,” she coaxed, “I know you do. If you open the door, you can,”

“Yes, you’re very attractive- but in your present state, you cannot consent,” Serendibite said. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Use your fingers until it’s over,”

It was futile. That much was clear. That didn’t stop Jasper from continue to yell long after Serendibite (or anyone else) had ceased to answer her. She eventually realised how pointless this was, and cast around for a new tactic. Perhaps she could throw things at the door, or even smash the room up until they were forced to check on her? But no; the vault was bare, apart from a low cot, carved out of the stone and made more comfortable by a nest of cushions. She hurled insults instead, as creative and cruel as she could make them without the benefit of years in the company of crass quartzes; and, when her throat was ragged and the ache at her centre hadn’t abated in the least, she slid down against a wall with her face in her hands, and took a deep, shaky breath. Her bruises twinged when she pressed them, but she did it again anyway, in an attempt to ground herself.

Her tantrum had accomplished nothing. Even in her intoxicated state, she knew that much. She had only worked herself up into even more of a fervour. She was sweaty and chilled, yet hot all over; and she felt as if there were fingernails tickling her beneath her skin. Scratching her arms only shredded them open, so she gave up and resigned herself to following Serendibite’s advice.

As far as she could tell, this was but the last option open to her. She really didn’t want to. On some level, it galled to have been rejected by those gems, who had initially seemed to like her so much (even if their appreciation had been purely aesthetic and not a little vulgar); and to sink to touching herself- inadequately, naively, and pathetically- felt like an admittance of her own unworthiness. Yet she could think of no other solution to her problem.

Despite her unusual build, her hands were fairly typical for a quartz; broad-palmed, thick-fingered, squat, solid, and built to punch. She glared down at them, and couldn’t help but notice how much shorter and thinner her fingers were than a quartz’s dick.

The first touch was tentative. She groped down between her thighs without any finesse, leaning against the wall with her feet braced against the ground. The initial blunt poke of her forefinger against her folds exacerbated the ache- but sweetly, like pressing into her own bruises. She was scorching and slippery, and she could feel trails of fluid cooling along her thighs, between her buttocks, and on the ground beneath her. Her finger burrowed between her lips, and it was even hotter here, all sensitive and sloppy-wet, and the fat little nub above her folds zinged when she brushed it. She decided she liked how it felt, and did it again, and again, shuddering with clenched teeth as she squirmed against her own hand. Something was building, growing within her, filling up all the room inside until there didn’t seem to be space left for anything else. It didn’t take long for it to burst forth, spurting out of her in long, hot streams of pale fluid as she keened past her bitten tongue. Then, her body quieted, and the roar in her ears fell to a dull buzz.

“Oh,” she breathed, staring down between her legs, where her fingers lingered. She could see nothing past the soft hair which covered her mound, but she wondered what it looked like. Even as this thought occurred to her, she scoffed quietly in the darkness. It probably didn’t matter. The important thing was that she had fixed her problem, and they would have to let her out now.

But no, that wasn’t quite right. She still felt antsy and shaky, and that maddening, pulsating burning was settling back between her legs again, like the hot sting of Serendibite’s hand on her wrist.

She wished Serendibite was here now. Serendibite was strong, dependable, and authorative, and Jasper liked her big arms and her black eyes, and the way she had trembled with want when Jasper had straddled her thigh. Jasper had ultimately been rejected, but as far as she could tell, that was because nobody thought she knew what she was doing, and didn’t want to hurt her by giving in. She wondered if Serendibite would be amenable to touching her again once this “heat” was over. She imagined Serendibite forcibly pinning her down on her front again- only this time, she’d wring Jasper’s hair in her fist, and she would clamp down on Jasper’s vulnerable nape with her beautiful tusks, utterly bestial in her fervour. She would slip inside with vicious impatience, all of her fat girth filling Jasper up nice and tight; and Jasper would finally know relief.

Serendibite wasn’t here, but as Jasper scrambled up onto her knees and locked her shoulders against the floor, she thought it might be possible to pretend otherwise. She reached back behind herself, sliding her fingers against the soft point of give at the centre of her flushed folds. Two slid in, easy and wet, but not nearly thick and warm enough for her to simply pretend Serendibite was rocking into her heat. But it was something. If she screwed her eyes up and wriggled in another, it was possible to fool herself into thinking that the tickle of her hair on her cheek was Serendibite huffing into her ear with every frantic inward thrust. In embarrassingly short order, Jasper tripped into another release, convulsing around her fingers as she sprayed the cold stone floor. Grinding her mouth into the ground didn’t entirely silence her shuddering cry, but it did muffle it.

From the other side of the door, a deep rumble of laughter reminded her of the world outside her cell. There were other quartzs out there; big, powerful quartzs, with strong arms and sharp-toothed grins. The jaspers were tall and thick-set, shaggy-haired and resplendent in a multitude of reds, yellows, greens, blacks- a veritable prism of hues. The one called Ginger was covered in swirling lines of black and brown, and she had lovely long, thick fingers, with short, rounded nails. She could slide up behind Jasper, crowding her into a wall and curling those fingers deep inside while murmuring about how soft and warm it was. Jasper shivered as her own hand found its way back into her. The filthy squelch of her fingers driving into her dripping heat was mortifying, but the cold stone against her cheek chilled her blush until she could almost ignore it.

There were so many different kinds of quartzs, and they were all beautiful in different ways. The amethysts were pudgier than the others- closer to Jasper in shape, but with tubbier bellies and chubbier arms. Jasper rolled onto her back and tried to imagine how one of them would feel between her legs, all warm, pillowy weight and wild hair. Most of all, she liked their lips, which were full and pursed, as if perpetually sucking on something. Maybe they could suck on her; on the red prominence of her breasts, and thick wet line of her lips. She hissed to herself, clenching up around her fingers.

As annoying as she was, the bloodstone called Sunny- with her ropy musculature and lop-sided grin- still managed to stroll into Jasper’s thoughts on the heels of her fantasies about the amethysts. And then there was Frizz, the smoky quartz with the devastating voice who had squatted down in front of her as if to offer her turgid length for Jasper’s use. That incident had ended with Jasper spitting violence like a honeybadger; but now, in the confines of this vault, she could imagine hungrily mouthing Frizz’s dick through her breeches, while Sunny crowded up behind her, spread her open and thrust right in. It was this thought which propelled her over the edge for a third time.

Her clouded fantasies were visited by prasiolites, and agates, and iridescent crysoprases; and she trembled towards another peak- one of countless she crested throughout her confinement- to thoughts of the ametrine who had called her sweetheart, and how that warm orange and purple body had felt against her naked breasts.

When her right hand began to cramp and tire, she switched to her left, fumbling inexpertly for a while before she got her bearings- and, when this hand ached and her wrist screamed, she threw aside all restraint and madly straddled the side of the cot, smearing her copious juices along the smooth granite as she rutted to completion. Her knees were scraped raw, and she was becoming intimately sore, but her libido was merciless. She wanted this to end, and every time she seized up with a hoarse moan and a heated gush, she hoped it would be the last time. For hours or days- she couldn’t tell which- her entire world narrowed to the hole between her legs, and dreams of other quartzes filling it up in various, creative ways. Had she been in her right mind, she would have been alarmed by the direction some of her fantasies took.

Eventually, her higher thinking elbowed its way back to the front of her thoughts. It felt like waking up all over again. The haze lifted gradually, like the industrial smog which overlaid the kindergarten in the pre-dawn hours, only to dissipate as the sun rose. She wished that she could remember nothing of her recent conduct, but everything was horribly lucid. The bitterness of shame suffused her like the tang of iron in her mouth, as scenes of her rabid, pathetic desperation played out behind her eyes. She felt as if she was looking into a life which was not her own. Just thinking about how much she had wanted to be pinioned like an insect and…used by the quartzes who had so riled her with their offensive comments when she had first come out of the rock was enough to settle a lead weight in her belly.

An hour past, and then two. She waited quietly in the darkness, simmering in mortification and her own filth, but nobody came for her. She wondered what they were waiting for. Perhaps they wanted to make certain she was safe to be around before they let her out? That must have been it. She’d attacked them twice so far; once under supervision, and once of her own, lust-crazed volition. She could hardly blame them for wanting to make sure she wouldn’t try again, for the third time. It was a wonder she hadn’t been rebranded “defective” after her last stunt, when she was obviously so volatile and dangerous to be around.

As she was just beginning to wonder whether she ought to call out to let them know she had finished, she heard the slow tread and raspy babble of approaching quartzes and settled back onto her cot in anticipation of release. However, two awful facts soon became clear to her. Firstly, they were only passing by, and had no commission to release her; and, secondly, they were talking about her.

“Is that where she’s being kept?” one of them said, “The jasper?”

“Yeah,” another voice confirmed, this one a little higher in pitch than the first, “Hey, Jib. You gems guarding the slutty newbie?”

Jasper’s insides swam with revulsion, and she felt as though she’d been struck in the face with a blunt object. A deep, shaky breath helped her to calm down enough to listen in again, but the ice spreading through her limbs did not slow its progress.

“Oi!” a third gem butted in, “You know it’s not her fault. Everyone gets caught without their suppressants once in a while,”

“Aww, what’s the matter, Jib?” the second voice sniggered, “You got a crush? Can’t say I blame you. Did you see her? Damn, I’d slam that pussy through a fucking wall, given half a chance-,”

“That’s not the point, Megs,” Jib snapped, sounding stung, “We all get like that during heat. And I think it’s pretty fucking rich of you to call her slutty when I’ve never met a single quartz who didn’t want to bang at the drop of a hat,”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Megs admitted, “But she’s the only one I’ve ever seen grind on Serendi like that. And I heard from Ace that she was real enthusiastic about getting everyone to fuck her when she was dragged in here. Literally everyone. I mean, she was begging for everyone to line up and fuck her. It was hot as fuck. I’d be game if she was, you know, able to consent,”

“Alright, yeah, that’s not normal,” Jib admitted grudgingly, “It’s still not her fault, though. She’s-”

“-In heat,” someone else said, “We know, yeah. But would she say all that if she wasn’t really thinking it? Heat don’t give you ideas you don’t already have. When she says she wants everyone to fuck her-,”

“-She means it,” Megs added triumphantly, “See, Jib? I’ve gotta wonder what the fuck they injected into the ground to make her. And can they make more, if you know what I mean,”

“We know,” the others chorused with exasperation.

“She is hot,” someone piped up, “Her being as horny as she is…ain’t that just a bonus?”

“In here, where we can fuck her raw? Sure,” Megs snorted, “Out there, in the field? She’s gonna be a liability more than anything. She’ll get her ass crushed by some gem beast because she was too busy sucking cock to notice it. Probably endanger her team too. There’s no way she could be a decent warrior. Have you seen her? She doesn’t look like she was made for fighting. Looks more like she was built to take a pounding of a different type, if you ask me,”

“Nobody’s asking you,” Jibs growled, “You don’t know shit about her. She was five minutes out of the rock when she took out ten quartzes before Serendi stopped her from beating more. Besides, you shouldn’t talk about how useless she is, and then talk about wanting to fuck her. That’s low. That’s real low,”

“OK, OK, sorry,” Megs said hastily, “Yeah, that’s true. She’s pretty strong. But are you honestly gonna try and tell me that you’re not worried about her rolling onto her back for the first enemy who takes her down?”

“Megs, come on! This is fucking stupid! Why would she-?”

“Well, why not? If she’s that horny, what’s stopping her?”

“I don’t know…common sense maybe? She’s not a mindless organic. She’s a quartz warrior. You should give her a little credit,”

“Sure,” Megs laughed, “I’ll believe it when I see it. Still can’t believe she’s been spared, considering how wild she is. Trying to murder members of her own batch and going into heat, all in just the hour after she’d been extracted? She’s a loose cannon. If she doesn’t get someone shattered because she can’t keep her legs closed, she’ll get someone shattered by flipping out in the field. Trust me when I say that I’ve never seen an ass I want to eat more, but I’d never choose to have her on my team. Don’t look at me like that, gems. It’s just facts,”

“Harsh,” another quartz muttered, “You should see what she can do before you count her out,”

“Eh, I’m with Megs on this one, Aggie,” someone said, “She’s a hot mess,”

“Maybe,” Aggie said, “Maybe not. We’ll see after her first training session. I hope she fucks you all up, for daring to expect her to fuck you after you’ve been calling her useless this whole time,”

“If she can kick my ass, she’s welcome to,” Megs said, “Anyway, I’ve gotta go. Serendi’s got me hauling equipment for the techies after I skipped training. I never thought she’d notice one random Chalcedony was missing,”

“This is Serendi, bitch, where have you been?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Takes a personal interest in each of us, and all that. You’d think she wouldn’t give a shit after so long on top,”

“You’re so damn stupid, Megs,” Aggie said, “Can’t believe you’re worried about Baby Jasp when you can’t even haul your ass to training, you slacker,”

Whatever Megs said in response was indiscernible to Jasper. They’d moved beyond the reach of her hearing, leaving her in the cold darkness with nothing but oppressive silence and the stinging knowledge that at least some of her fellow quartzes already counted her as useless and heat-crazed. The chance that this could be true haunted her for the rest of the time she was in that vault. She tried to distract herself in the only way open to her, but the frantic grind of her thick wet folds against the granite of her cot filled her with revulsion. She came, of course, shuddering and moaning as strongly as she’d ever done; but below the pleasure lurked an undercurrent of shame. When the pleasure abated, the shame surged to the surface, overwhelmingly bitter in its intensity. She curled up on her cot and tried not to think.

Act II: the gossip of Helios

Somehow, the other quartzes must have sensed that she was done, because a scant few hours after her hips finally stuttered to a halt for the last time- and after she had realised how appalling her behaviour had been- the destabilising barrier fizzled out abruptly, leaving her in total darkness. She barely had time to wonder what was going on before the vault door was whining open. The bright sunlight and rush of clean air chilled her sweaty, sticky body and emphasised just how much of a mess she’d made. The vault was malodorous and musty. She was sure she looked and smelled a lot worse.

If she had given it any thought, she would have hoped that Serendibite would delegate the task of retrieving her to gems who hadn’t been close witnesses to her attempted debauchery of their boss. The moment she saw Serendibite’s unmistakable silhouette in the brightly-lit doorway, she knew she had been unlucky in this regard.

Serendibite lingered just outside for a moment, her eyes sweeping the room as if expecting an attack. Considering Jasper’s prior behaviour, that probably wasn’t far from the truth. Simmering with shame, she curled up tighter on the cot, and silently wished that Serendibite would check on her, realise it was over, and leave her to her own devices. She’d rather lick her wounds in private.

“All clear,” Serendibite called, stepping into the room. A few more quartzs followed behind her: Ginger, Frizz, Sunny, and the nameless Ametrine Jasper had groped. Jasper stifled a groan and wished she could return to the rock from which she had been born.

“Damn!” Sunny whistled, “Anyone got a wet floor sign? I nearly slipped and busted my ass just coming in here. Yo, baby jasper, were you trying to flood the place?”

“Don’t call me that,” Jasper hissed into her knees.

“Aren’t babies those weird squashy things humans have?” Ginger mused, “They cry a lot, liquid comes out of both ends?”

“They’re human young, dumbass,” Frizz snorts, rapping Ginger on the head with her knuckles, “She’s the youngest in the batch; extracted three weeks after the rest of us. So she’s baby jasper,”

“I dunno, it’s kind of creepy,” the ametrine shrugged, fiddling with the bundle of nondescript material she was clutching in her massive hands (for some reason), “Those tiny humans freak me the fuck out,”

“Well, we gotta call her something, Tricks,” Frizz argued, “There’s a fuck-ton of jaspers, so we can’t call her that,”

“I vote Tits,” Sunny declared, throwing her hand into the air with a smirk.

“I vote beating your ass into the ground,” Jasper snarled. Despite her bold words, she curled up tighter, feeling her cheeks burn. She had fantasised about Sunny frequently throughout her heat. Seeing her again, when evidence of Jasper’s debauchery was so graphically visible all around them, was mortifying.

“We’re not calling her Tits,” Serendibite sighed, but she was looking at Jasper rather than Sunny, “Hey,”

“Hello,” Jasper returned morosely, after a long silence. Serendibite appeared unfazed. There was even a sympathetic furrow to her brow.

“Yeah, first one’s a doozy,” she said, crouching down beside the cot, “Look, I know this has freaked you out, but everyone forgets their suppressants at some point and ends up locked in one of these. You were just unlucky enough to start the moment you were extracted,”

“It’s humiliating,” Jasper said shortly. These were the only words she could pull together in her mind and coagulate into a meaningful sentence. She wanted to say all kinds of things, starting with an apology for assaulting so many quartzes and attempting to rub herself off on Serendibite’s thigh; yet, when she tried to articulate this, the words refused to come.

“Nah, it was hot as fuck,” Frizz said, in what was evidently supposed to be a consolatory tone, “Hit me up sometime, I’ll take you for your first ride,”

Jasper’s face flamed vividly, but when she raised her head to fire back a rebuttal, Frizz’s casual, wide-legged stance and sultry grey eyes reminded her of her heat-driven fantasies. She realised that the thought of taking Frizz up on that offer was one she found appealing even now, and she wondered if her heat had shook something loose within her, making her even more defective than she had initially been. Her mind told her she should dominate and control, but her body wanted nothing more to submit to the amorous touch of her fellow soldiers. Her throat closed back up, leaving her silent.

“You’re not helping,” Serendibite said, “That’s probably the last thing she wants to hear right now, you idiot,”

“Hey, I’m just offering,” Frizz shrugged with a roguish grin, “But I don’t think she likes me as much as she likes you, Serendi. It’s cool though. I don’t mind going second,”

“Dibs on third,” Sunny called, thrusting her hand into the air unnecessarily.

“She’s just come out of her heat, you animals,” Serendibite scowled, “She needs a bath, not mediocre dick.”

Mortified though she was, Jasper couldn’t prevent a loud snort of laughter from escaping as Frizz and Sunny drew themselves up with abject affront. Frizz even laid her hand over her chest with a small gasp.

“Considering how they was talking about you going first, I think you just shot yourself in the foot, Serendi,” Ginger put in with a snigger. Frizz and Sunny crowed and jeered, but Tricks rolled her eyes and folded her arms, seemingly distancing herself from her rowdier friends’ merriment.

“Fuck off,” Serendibite said without heat, “Alright, Baby Jasp, do you think you can walk?”

“Yes,” Jasper sneered narrowly, without even knowing if she was telling the truth. Part of her knew that Serendibite meant well, but this coddling, coupled with that infantilising tone, further abraded Jasper’s already damaged pride. Being carried to the bath would be another strike she couldn’t permit. Quartzes could not allow themselves to appear weak. They were strong, indomitable, and unflinching in the face of death; created to dominate and overawe the enemies of Homeworld. Jasper knew this in the same way she knew how to walk and talk. It was bred into her, like a peridot’s technological capacity or a sapphire’s cool reserve. Weakness was to quartzes what rebellion was to pearls; an anathema, to be stamped out before it could infest the whole batch.

She snubbed the hand offered to her and dragged herself to the end of her cot with as much stoicism she could muster, in spite of her sore body. Standing upright was even more of a chore. There was no gap between her thighs to take the pressure off her raw groin, forcing her to stand slightly akimbo and hope that her wincing wasn’t too obvious. She’d really done a number on herself.

“How long?” she asked, before Serendibite could express anymore concern for her.

“Eight days,” Serendbite said, “Listen, it’s a fair distance between here and the baths. Are you sure you can make it?”

“I’d better,” Jasper muttered grimly to herself. Her scowl deepened as she noticed the concerned looks the other quartzes were sending her.

“Here,” Tricks said, tossing her a short, rough-woven robe, “Since you don’t know how to phase clothes on yet,”

Jasper struggled into it gratefully, tying the sash into a tight knot with awkward fingers. It was short and itchy, but preferable to nakedness. In the aftermath of this heat, she was finally starting to realise what it meant to be desired, and her mind was torn between two opposing camps. On the one hand, logic told her that her desires were wrong, and she shouldn’t encourage the other quartzes to lust over her (particularly since their attentions were verging on objectification). On the other hand, however, the warm touch of their gazes heated her insides to liquid. Even her legs tremored and threatened to buckle, like metal support struts torched by volcanic heat. Its flames licked at her skin and between her legs, in spite of her pain and exhaustion. There was something very wrong with her.

The other quartzs seemed to know better than to try to support her, although they could hardly have been accused on keeping a respectable distance. On several occasions, as Jasper made her slow but determined way towards the baths, she caught their hands twitching towards her arm or shoulder; a reflexive offer of support. Thankfully, all attempts to assist her were rescinded without any castigation from her end. She appreciated their tentative kindness, but resented the weakness which had prompted it.

The communal bathing facilities were set into the side of a cliff, surrounded by lurid terrestrial vegetation and several small waterfalls. In the otherwise barren kindergarten, this was a jarring oasis of life, and attested to the esteem in which quartzes were held. The expense required to maintain life in the leeched soil must have been significant, and it was hard to imagine that such a luxury would be offered to the ordinary ruby foot soldier or any of the other low ranking gems Jasper passed on her way to the baths.

Considering the rowdiness displayed by the average quartz, Jasper was surprised to find it unmanned and unguarded when they stepped through the door and into a long, low-ceilinged corridor. It was brightly lit, and cut out of a sandstone outcrop, strikingly red in comparison with the dull grey rock of the cliff faces. It stretched off for several hundred yards into the distance, then rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight. The hall was punctuated at regular intervals by doors, many of which were closed; but others were open, and quiet murmuring or the raucous sound of quartz laughter, cheering, and other, more lewd noises leaked out into the corridor in which Jasper stood.

“Yeah, quartzes fuck in here,” Sunny confirmed with a casual shrug, “Don’t worry, the water flows out so everything’s clean within an hour,”

Jasper decided against registering her scepticism regarding the cleanliness of the bathing facilities. For one thing, she didn’t want to distinguish herself as a priss- not when she had already been noted down as soft. For another, it wasn’t as though any other options were open to her. Stale sweat and the musk of her own dried essence stuck to her like a film of industrial grease. If the smell offended her companions, they were very good at pretending otherwise- but it certainly bothered Jasper to walk round with the pall of her own degeneracy wafting behind her. She would have to trust in the other quartzes’ judgements; and, if her faith proved misplaced, suspect bath water was at least preferable to the dry scratch of her flaking thighs rubbing together.

“So there are more gems like me?” she asked, in lieu of disclosing her misgivings. A particularly filthy grunt from a nearby room brought a slight flush to her face.

“Like you?” Sunny asked. Based on vocal patterns, Jasper presumed that Sunny was seeking clarification.

“Gems- quartzes- with…one of these,” Jasper said, pointing at the crux of her own thighs, “Instead of…what you’ve got,”

She hated the smirk which stretched across Sunny’s face. She told herself it was because she didn’t like how patronising it felt, but she knew that she was at least partly annoyed by how attractive she found the slight protrusion of those white fangs, and the quirk of those dark lips.

“You could have a dick too,” Sunny gestured to the bulge at her crotch, “If you wanted to. We’re shapeshifters, babe. I’ve given myself a cunt plenty of times. But I think it would be a crying shame if you shifted away that pretty pussy,”

“Agreed,” Frizz nodded. Ginger hummed in concurrence, while Tricks (who, Jasper was rapidly coming to learn, could be considered one of the more reasonable and level-headed quartzes) pursed her lips in disapproval. Serendibite seemed equally unimpressed.

“She can shapeshift what she damn well wants to!” she said, cuffing both Sunny and Frizz around the back of the head. It was a testament to her strength that, despite their tough heads, they both winced and rubbed their skulls with identical peeved squints.

“I think I’ll stick with this,” Jasper blurted out, “I like yours, but they seem like they’d be vulnerable in battle,”

She told herself that this was a choice which was in no way influenced by her own depraved cravings. In truth, she had no desire to ever shapeshift a dick- and, while she was being honest about their tactical disadvantages, she carefully avoided thinking about how she had shivered when Sunny had expressed a partiality to her “pretty pussy”. At least she now knew the correct terminology. The technicians had apparently not considered knowledge of her own anatomy to be vital information with which to imbue her from birth.

“Yeah, do me a favour and kick one of these idiots in the crotch sometime,” Tricks grinned, ducking under a blow aimed at her face, “Take em down a peg. I swear, these two think everyone wants their dicks,”

“You were gagging for it last night! Don’t play!” Frizz snorted, slinging an arm around Trick’s shoulders, “Pity you can’t shift a cunt as sweet as Baby Jasp’s though,”

“How do you know it’s sweet?” Ginger rolled her eyes, “You aint tasted it,”

“Have you seen it?” Sunny interjected, with far more emphasis than Jasper considered necessary, “Gems, you can just tell. Red and juicy, I’m telling you. I don’t even need to drink, and it makes me thirsty looking at it,”

With a sudden cold stab in her belly, like a shard of ice or the bite of bitter poison, Jasper realised that they weren’t even talking about her anymore- not really. To them, her entire existence was constricted to the point between her thighs, where they could find a warm place in which to slake their lusts. They liked her because she was soft; and they called her Baby Jasp, even though she’d told them not to. Jasper thought of little doe-eyed pearls, cooed over by their mistresses but ultimately possessing no standing beyond that of glittering trophies.

Her hands shot out without conscious direction. She surprised even herself when she seized Sunny and Frizz by their groins, squeezing warningly in a way which was the exact opposite of sensual. The fear and shock in their eyes gratified her, soothing the sting their callous objectification had left within her, like barbs of a thistle.

“Definitely a tactical disadvantage,” she said, “And don’t call me that,”

She let go with one last acid glower, turned on her heel, and stalked away despite her lingering soreness. She had no idea where she was going, or what to do when she got there, but she had grown sick of being treated like a fragile invalid in one moment, and a walking, talking pussy hole the next. It was deeply, offensively obvious that they didn’t respect her. In fact, it could have easily been argued that they actively went out of their way to disrespect her. Perhaps if she made it clear that she was a quartz equal to any other, they would have no choice but to disregard her unusual attributes, and accept her inherent worth as a warrior.

Act III: wisdom from Thebes and the wit of Laconia

As she passed each open door, she did her best to avoid looking away from the spectacle within- even though she was taken aback by the uninhibited way in which her fellow quartzes coupled with one another. No other quartz would shrink from the sight of sex. In fact, she could easily envisage Sunny or Frizz loudly greeting the fucking quartzes, and shouting out suggestions.

Each misty room contained a deep pool, carved into the solid sandstone bedrock and wafting steam into the air. In some, quartzes were simply lounging about in silence, or else chatting sedately, their rippling arms spread out along the rim of the pool. Jasper found herself appreciating their bare breasts and damp, gleaming flesh, and chastised herself inwardly. If she kept on acting like this, the other quartzs were going to continue to see her as nothing more than a warm body.

The biggest test to her resolve was those rooms in which the occupants were behaving with significantly more amorousness. Through the milky steam, she could see muscular bodies struggling together heatedly, grunting, panting, moaning above the distinct sound of flesh against flesh. A chubby amethyst straddled the narrow thighs of a wiry-limbed citrine, murmuring in bliss as she rolled against the dick within her. Long fingers clutched at the dimpled curve of her podgy behind and the soft rolls of her back, curling into her fervently. In another room, a pair of onyxes rutted together, dick against dick, on the hard ground beside the pool, growling and hissing insults at each other. Further along, a yellow jasper wrapped her legs around the head of a carnelian, biting her fist as a couple of their friends threw lewd remarks their way.

After half a dozen rooms like this, Jasper allowed herself to look away, her cheeks burning with shame. She hadn’t been able to face up to it after all. Quartzes were supposed to be smutty and shameless. What did it say about her that she wasn’t able to be those things simultaneously? The only time she had forgotten herself enough that she was able to abandon her inhibitions and offer herself to her fellow soldiers, she had been in heat; and, immediately after it was over, she’d been overcome with shame, and the difficult realisation that her wantonness may have sabotaged her only chance of ensuring that she was taken seriously as a quartz warrior. She just wasn’t the right kind of horny. None of the others seemed to have the same problem she did. Regardless of whether they were fucking or being fucked, they were far from submissive, mewling creatures. In contrast, Jasper wanted to be pinned and ruined by every quartz she’d met so far. She was laughably, painfully defective.

She had presumed she wasn’t being followed, so she was understandably surprised when she paused outside a likely-looking room, and Serendibite’s rumbling burr sounded from behind her.

“You can just go in,” Serendibite said, correctly guessing what she was thinking, “We don’t reserve bathing rooms. It’s generally a free-for-all,”

“I’d gathered as much,” Jasper said dryly, turning to face Serendibite again. This time, she was able to look her dead in the eye, and counted that as a small victory. On the other hand, she didn’t like what she saw. Serendibite’s eyes were watchful and wary, just as they had been when Jasper had first rampaged out of the rock. Did she expect Jasper to lose control again, and attack someone else? It was this thought, more than anything, which doused the embers of Jasper’s anger.

“Where are the others?” she asked, loosening her glare until she hoped she looked annoyed rather than furious.

“I told them to take their stupid asses back to the barracks while I try to smooth over their fuck up,” Serendibite said, crossing her arms across her broad chest. Jasper’s eyes involuntarily flickered to the bulge of those biceps, black and chiselled with defined musculature.

“They don’t take me seriously,” she said, angry with herself.

“They don’t,” Serendibite confirmed, tilting her head with a sigh, “You’re right. But not about why,”

“Then enlighten me,” Jasper said, with an obstinate jut of her chin. Her convictions were further augmented when, at that moment, a trio of quartzes (a brown-spotted dalmation jasper, a carnelian, and an amethyst) exited one of the rooms up ahead and immediately embarked on some lewd speculation regarding Serendibite “breaking in the newbie”.

“Damn, she looks like she could use it,” the carnelian grinned when she caught sight of the look on Jasper’s face, “Give her one from me, Serendi,”

“I wouldn’t cross her, Lia,” muttered the amethyst, ruffling her lilac hair dry with a towel, “I saw her come out of the rock, a coupla days ago. They tested her, to see if she was defective, and she beat the shit out of everyone. Serendi had to hold her down. Probably don’t fuck with her,”

The sudden uplift in affection Jasper experienced for this nameless quartz (all due to her casual regard for Jasper’s fighting abilities) felt almost pathetic in its intensity. Still, it was preferable to the way the others treated her. Even now, she couldn’t avoid noticing the staring; the way the dalmation jasper and the carnelian were tracking her with a strange, hungry intensity.

“Oh yeah, I remember!” the dalmation jasper said abruptly, snapping her fingers, “You went into heat. Started trying to give it to everyone within five feet of you. Is that why you’re here? Bout to get…some?”

“I’m here to get clean,” Jasper snapped, “How do you quartzes ever win any wars when you can’t stop trying to fuck everything for five fucking minutes?”

She regretted her words, but not her outburst. Casting aspersions on a quartz’s skill as a warrior was the quickest way to make her your enemy- and Jasper had just insulted every quartz in existence. Nonetheless, that was the most assertive she had been since she had been extracted eight days ago. For all her violent outbursts- for all of her venomous insolence, and her physical, wilful disobedience- she had a terrible habit of rolling over when pressed. She bit her tongue as they spoke of her with lust, until she could take it no more, and her virulence spewed out of her like bile. Seconds later, she was paralysed with contrition, embarrassed by her lack of restraint in a way foreign to the other quartzes. Assertiveness was a concept they grasped with ease- and one she urgently needed to grasp. As long as she kept her shameful cravings secret, there should be no reason why she couldn’t force the others to respect her. On its own, her ability to take down multiple powerful opponents demonstrated her worth. The rest could take care of itself.

To her surprise, the dalmation jasper’s wide-eyed incredulity lasted for mere seconds before her face relaxed into a roguish grin.

“I like you,” she said, “We should spar sometime. And if it turns into something else-,”

“It won’t,” Jasper said, “But I might take you up on the sparring,”

As she turned away dismissively and marched into the adjacent room, she heard a low whistle and a muttered “Gems, that was cold!” Her smirk of vindictive satisfaction only lasted until she heard the snick of the door closing behind her, and turned to face Serendibite in expectation of a reprimand.

She wasn’t sure what she’d done, but she was so new to the world that she imagined it would be all too easy for her to unknowingly mess up somehow. The kindergarten technicians had only instilled into her any information they deemed necessary for a quartz to know instinctively. Anything else, she would have to learn from experience. It was a daunting prospect. According to Sunny, Jasper was the youngest in the batch, by a whole three weeks. The others had already had time to find their feet and form social bonds (and fuck each other senseless on a regular basis, apparently). Comparatively, Jasper was at a disadvantage. If she didn’t want to remain an outsider, she would have to ingratiate herself with the group somehow- without involving sex. She could only imagine how badly it would go if she did otherwise. It would be mere moments before she would begin to respond to their touches, and they realised what a wretched, submissive creature she was. She could ill afford to let her libido destroy her good standing before she even had one.

Fortunately, Serendibite’s body language was languid and loose, and her face was openly amused. Jasper could detect no hostility. She relaxed without realising she’d tensed up in the first place.

“It’s about time you started telling them to fuck off,” Serendibite told her, “You’ve had a few moments when you’ve hit them where it hurts, but generally…you just look like a lost kitten caught in the rain when they start,”

“A kitten?” Jasper asked, “What’s that? I don’t think I like the sound of it,”

She paused, contemplative and suspicious.

“Are you calling me weak?” she asked finally, folding her arms to mirror Serendibite’s posture. For some reason, she had the feeling that she wasn’t quite measuring up to Serendibite’s sure, solid stance. She was probably coming across as bratty and defensive instead.

“Get in,” Serendibite said, nodding towards the pool. For a wild moment, Jasper considered disobeying her, but she figured that it was probably best not to antagonise the only gem in this place she could consider an ally. Still, she made sure to televise her enduring displeasure by yanking off her rough robe and splashing into the pool with a belligerent set to her jaw. Her confidence wavered when Serendibite suddenly phased away own her uniform in a burst of light and stepped into the pool after her.

“I think we need to have a talk,” Serendibite said calmly. She seated herself on the submerged stone bench which surrounded the pool’s edge, her legs carelessly splayed out as she rolled her shoulders with a pleased sigh. Jasper crushed her lip between her teeth, trying not to peek at Serendibite’s bare breasts, or the murky outline of her flaccid cock beneath the water. She failed.

“So talk,” she retorted, frozen in the middle of the pool.

“Sit down first,” Serendibite said. She was speaking in a polite, even tone, but it was clearly an order. Irked, Jasper began lowering herself onto the bench on the opposite side of the pool, her eyes scanning the water for traces of the quartzes who had last used these facilities.

“No,” Serendibite said sharply, “Over here, with me. I’m not yelling to you across the room,”

A moment of hesitation, and then Jasper resentfully capitulated. She waded over, and dropped down onto the bench a few feet from Serendibite’s right with an ill-concealed wince. She may have forgotten that she’d been (literally) fucking herself senseless for the past eight days, but her body had not. Mercifully, Serendibite kept any remarks to herself.

“You don’t like it when somebody suggests that you’re weak,” Serendibite asked, “Why?”

This surely had to be a test, but when Jasper opened her mouth to express her confusion, Serendbite uttered a brisk “Just answer the question,”

“Of course I don’t,” she said, glaring down towards her knees past her breasts, “I’m a quartz. We’re not supposed to be weak. We have to be strong…always strong. I knew that the moment you ordered those other quartzes to test me,”

“Right,” Serendibite nodded, “Quartzes aren’t supposed to be weak,”

“That’s what I said,” Jasper said testily. She wondered what the point was to this conversation. If Serendibite expected her to come to a sudden realisation about her place within their ranks, she was going to be disappointed.

“So, if quartzs always have to be strong, how are we supposed to express positive emotions towards one another without undermining that?” Serendibite asked, “We can’t…hold hands and braid each other’s hair. We can’t say “well, shit, I feel real sad lately”, and expect the others to coo over us. These things are seen as weaknesses. And weaknesses are defects,”

Jasper listened quietly, but she was no closer to understanding what the point was to this peculiar little intervention. Serendibite wasn’t saying anything Jasper (and every other quartz) didn’t instinctively know- that is, apart from her cryptic hints that there were acceptable emotional outlets available to quartzes. Nonetheless, she was being so vague that she was illuminating approximately nothing. Jasper couldn’t bring herself to believe that Serendibite was blowing nothing but hot air. There must have been a purpose underpinning her rambling.

“How do you think quartzes express affection and other “weak” emotions in a way which is considered tolerable and non-destructive?” Serendibite continued. As she spoke, she made a sudden movement in Jasper’s direction, as if to grab her; but, even as Jasper brought her fists up, throat tightening in fear, Serendibite reached between them to press a small button on the wall of the pool. A compartment opened, exposing soaps, washcloths, and other bathing paraphernalia, all of which looked unused. She wordlessly dumped the lot on the rim of the stone basin, where both of them could reach it, and motioned for Jasper to take her pick. Still deeply unnerved, Jasper snatched up a few items without looking, her attention fixed on Serendibite rather than choosing between wild raspberry or juniper berry soap. Judging by the sad grimace on Serendibite’s face, she had some inkling of what Jasper was thinking.

“See?” she said, in a voice softer than usual; like crushed granite, rather than a tumble of boulders, “You don’t trust me. You don’t trust anyone. I’m not blaming you for that- Diamond knows you were thrown into the thick of it the moment you stumbled out of your hole- but it’s a problem. See, the whole reason quartzes are so formidable is because we’re elite soldiers who always have each other’s backs. We trust each other. That’s what makes it an army- not a bunch of gems running around waving weapons. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

“Not really,” Jasper answered honestly. In an attempt to prevent herself from staring at Serendibite’s breasts (small, firm-looking, with inky black nipples), Jasper snatched up a washcloth and began to scrub at her arms with it.

“What I’m saying is…quartzes love each other. We’re extremely social and affectionate,” Serendibite explained gruffly, “Unfortunately…we’re not supposed to say it, or show it. Can’t get caught acting like flimsy beryls and stuff. Can’t get caught batting our eyelashes at each other like besotted pearls. But we can get physical. That’s allowed. We can spar during training- and we can fuck each other senseless. That’s how we love, because we’re not allowed to do it any other way. Some of us don’t go in for that kind of thing; because they don’t feel attracted to other quartzes, because they don’t like to fuck…whatever their reasons, we respect that. But generally, our avenues are limited. If a quartz gets caught acting too sappy, she’s going to get demoted, struck off, or crushed. Acting like that is considered precursor for more dangerous behaviour; cowardice, subversion, lack of discipline.

So we can’t let ourselves get caught crying or scared, or in pain. Quartzes are strong, full stop. That’s a complete sentence. No ifs, buts, maybes. If you get scared, you fuck someone until you forget your fear. If you get sad, you make sure to tell her to give it to you hard, so you can focus on the pounding you’re taking, rather than whatever’s gotten you fucked up. And…it’s great for pain relief, too. If you just want to feel the love, you can go slow and stroke each other’s hair if you want. Whatever you want.

The point I’m making is…yeah, the others don’t respect you. But, in general, it’s because you’re young and they don’t know jack shit about you. OK, yeah, there are some who will judge you because you look and act the way you do, but you’ve got to show them. Don’t hide away, whining. You’re going to be Baby Jasp for a while- at least, until you see action and manage to show them what you can do. Doesn’t mean you should keep all of them at arm’s length. That’s bad for teamwork, and bad for morale. You don’t have to fuck anyone if you don’t want to, but I’d recommend flirting back a little; joking, dicking around. Get into a pile with them, and touch them, and don’t shove them away so long as they’re not freaking you out. Nobody’s going to touch you without your permission, or I’ll beat them senseless myself if you don’t. They won’t try anything, though. Did you see how freaked out they were when they realised you thought they were trying to force you? But you have to start interacting with them in a way they can conceptualise. You’ve got to meet them halfway. You don’t want to look weak? Well, shit, sweetheart, none of the rest of us do, either. That’s why we’re pinned into this corner. You’ve got to try being social. It’s not ideal, but we manage,”

“But…,” Jasper hesitated, fiddling with a bottle labelled “hair wash”, “Alright, we form and create social bonds through sex and other physical acts. I get that. But quartzes…we’re supposed to be dominant and…in charge, all the time. I’ve seen it. Even when they others are being…fucked, they’re not rolling over and just…taking it at all. But…,”

“You want to be held down and stuffed with cock until you go cross-eyed,” Serendibite finished, lips twitching with mirth as Jasper glared at her, “Nothing wrong with that. Gems, it’s actually hot as fuck. Ask anyone,”

“Isn’t that weakness?” Jasper insisted, splashing water over Serendibite in her agitation, “We’re not supposed to be like that! Aren’t you worried I’ll just…roll over in the middle of battle?”

“I don’t think you’re going to have the same reaction to an enemy sword as you do when someone sticks their dick in your face,” Serendibite observed, “I can see why you’re worried, but almost everyone loves a good, deep dicking every now and again. You just…happen to want it more than most,”

She finished with a shrug of her hefty shoulders, then immediately busied herself picking a soap with which to wash herself. There was no way she was having this much difficulty choosing whether she wanted to smell like almonds or mint (whatever they were), and it seemed likely she was probably dawdling, to allow Jasper to recover after having that bombshell dropped onto her. It was gentle, thoughtful consideration, cloaked in nonchalance. Jasper thought she might have been beginning to understand what Serendibite meant when she spoke of acceptable emotional outlets and expression. For the first time since she’d been created, Jasper knew where she stood with her fellow quartzes; she knew what she had to do if she wanted to be respected.

“Would you mind helping me wash my hair?” she asked, while she still had the courage to do so. Serendibite’s slow, approving smile told her that she’d said the right thing.

“Yeah, sure,” Serendbite said, “Want to toss me the stuff?”

Jasper slapped the nearest bottle of the “hair wash” into Serendibite’s hand, without checking what it was supposed to smell like. She had no frame of reference for “orange blossom” or “pine” anyway. Besides, turning her back on Serendbite and allowing her this level of physical contact had turned Jasper’s belly into a roiling, clenching mess. She had little thought to spare for hairwash scents.

Under Serendibite’s direction, she ducked beneath the water to soak her dirty, matted mane. Filth clouded around her, but there was something comforting about the weightlessness of her billowing hair, and the all-encompassing warmth winding around her limbs, like the gentle touch of so many hands. She surfaced with considerably less elegance, blinded and wrestling with her alarmingly heavy, waterlogged mane as Serendibite roared with laughter. Jasper struck out, chagrined, but missed and almost overbalanced.

“Yeah, I should have warned you,” Serendibite said (Jasper decided to give her credit for at least trying to force down her laughter), “Here,”

Despite the urge to bolt, Jasper held herself in place and allowed Serendibite to carefully finger-comb her hair back. She blinked water out of her eyes under the torchlight, and felt the corded muscles of Serendibite’s arms beneath her clutching fingers. Those gold and black eyes held her as surely as she grasped at Serendibite, and as intimately as the press of her breasts against ridges of black abdominals. Colour rose to Jasper’s cheeks against her will.

“You said that I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to,” she said, “But…my body wants to. It’s my mind which is against it. I-I have all of these fantasies, and they feel good- felt good when I was in heat…but…it’s…I have this feeling of being angry and trapped when I think about doing these things- and, at the same time, I want to, and I feel weak because the others…they don’t have this issue.

You said quartzes like getting fucked, and it doesn’t make me wrong to want that…but I have no interest in doing anything other than that. It’s like…I’m fighting myself. I shouldn’t want to feel used a-and submissive. I should fantasise about holding them down and being in control, like I do when I think about fighting them. I shouldn’t care about what they say about my…about me, when they talk about what they want to do to me. I like it- I love it…and that’s the problem. I should be saying the same stuff to them. Instead, I feel ashamed for wanting it so much, and for not…fitting in. I want it, but I don’t know them, and I don’t trust them, and that makes me think that I should trust them, but I can’t trust them if I don’t let them in…I don’t think I’m making any sense,”

“Hmm,” Serendibite mused, “You’re making more sense than you think. See, your problem is this: you want to trust them, but you feel like you can’t- not unless you start doing what they do, speaking like they do, acting like they do. You think, if you do these things, you’ll fit right in, and they’ll accept you- stop seeing you as an outsider, and as Baby Jasp, and start seeing you as just another quartz. Then you’ll be able to trust them.

You want acceptance. That’s why you’re so worried about what they’ll think of you if they find out that everything you said during your heat was the truth. You don’t want to be rejected. You say that your body and mind are at war over this, but it sounds to me like the root of your problem is that you’re thinking about what you think you should want, rather than what you actually want. You told me yourself that you still want the things you fantasied about during your heat- which means that it was you talking, not your heat. You were just desperate enough to stop caring about what gems would think.

So here’s my advice (and it hasn’t changed): don’t do anything which makes you uncomfortable, and don’t put up with other gems forcing you into uncomfortable situations. Relax a little, and let them in- as much you can. You’ll find that you’ll become real close once you’re sent out into the field. There’s nothing quite like mortal peril to get you bonding with your fellows quartzes. Trust me.

If you never want to fuck them, that’s fine. Get in piles with them, take the piss out of them, kick their asses in training- Gems, bring yourself off in front of them if you can. But, if you come to terms with the fact that what you want, and what you think you should want are two different things- and that nobody gives two fucks if you want to be filled with come until it squirts out of your eyeballs, so long as you’re an effective soldier and a team player- I don’t think you’ll have a problem bonding with the others,”

By now, Jasper’s hair was a cold weight on her scalp, trickling streams of ice down the backs of her legs and over her chest- yet, light and warmth bled through her on the heels of her sheer, overwhelming relief. Her internalised issues were still very much present, but she was cheered by the knowledge that she could worm her way into the group at her own pace, and on her own terms; and, equally, that she wouldn’t be automatically demoted in the estimations of her peers because she had no desire to assert her sexual dominance.

“Right,” she said, finally releasing Serendibite’s forearms, “I’ll…work on that. I’ll relax around then, and try to remember that nobody will judge me over this stuff if I prove myself in battle,”

“Give yourself some credit,” Serendibite smiled around her tusks, “You’ve only been around for eight days. They’ve had weeks. Don’t think we just pop out of the ground knowing how shit works, and you’re the only one who doesn’t know the score. Everyone’s been where you are,”

“I suppose,” Jasper conceded, “But the others don’t seem to question anything. Are you just…more aware of how quartzes function?”

“Nah, I’m just old,” Serendibite chuckled, “If you live long enough, you notice the patterns. That’s not to say that other quartzes wander around in a state of perpetual oblivion, but they’re more likely to just accept the way things are and adapt as best they can. Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you’re a weird one, it’s because you question things and don’t just think “well, that’s just the way it is”. It’s a great leadership quality- suggests a good analytical mind. Just be careful you don’t question the wrong things and wind up fucking yourself over. Now turn back around and I’ll wash your hair,”

If Jasper retained anymore niggling doubts, they were rubbed away by the firm drag of Serendibite’s fingers across her scalp, as handfuls of sweet-smelling hairwash lathered up her mane into a mass of pale bubbles. For such a formidable figure, Serendibite possessed a great capacity for gentleness. Jasper had to wonder if her remarkable disregard for the hard rules of quartz social etiquette could undermine her position; but, then again, she was so abnormally enormous that nobody save a Diamond could successfully challenge her. It must have been reassuring, to own the confidence and influence to get away with acting soft.

The second time Jasper ducked beneath the water, she stayed under for longer and surfaced without making an ass of herself, once her hair was clear of bubbles. She wrung it out and assailed it with a comb, casting her expression into something she hoped came across as unaffected, even as she inwardly winced with every yank to her scalp. She tried fix her attention on the task at hand, but it was very difficult for her to do so when Serendibite was kneeling down in the water nearby, soaping up her own hair. Jasper was powerfully reminded of black flint as she admired that hard, dark back, ridged with lines as sharp as fragmented rock. She bit her tongue, swallowing her own drool as the thought of biting into a broad shoulder muscled its way to the forefront of her mind without her say so. She knew she had lost the fight when she found herself hoping that Serendibite would feel her teeth and turn to her, amused that such a small creature would attempt to offer a challenge. She could probably pick Jasper up as if she weighed no more than a ruby- and, oh, how Jasper wanted her to. She wanted to be grasped around her hips in the pinch of harsh fingers, and hoisted into the air until she felt the gentle nudge of Serendibite’s dick against her swollen slit. Gravity would do the rest. She envisaged Serendibite guiding her down that generous shaft, forcibly and inexorably squeezing it into the tight clench of her soaked cunt. The comb fell from Jasper’s fingers and dropped into the pool.

This was bad. Her new conviction that she could be as licentious as she wished was blowing away as quickly as it had been formed, like sand in the wind. She thought of Megs’ accusations, and of the other quartzes agreeing with her. She thought of Aggie and Jib, defending her but admitting that Jasper was just not normal. She thought of her inability to be around quartzes without wanting to fuck them. She thought of everything she’d done and said- during her heat, and before, and after it- and shame clogged her throat like mud. Despite Serendibite’s reassurances, Jasper could only be disturbed by the potency of her own desires. Would she always be this insatiable? This couldn’t be normal, no matter what Serendibite said. Jasper was going to have to learn to control herself and her cravings, or risk compromising her standing in the group before she even had one. They already didn’t take her seriously. There was no way anyone would ever take her seriously if she was constantly wet and wanting. She was sure of that much. If she ever wanted to be a leader of gems, like Serendibite had suggested she could be one day, she would have to discipline herself in the most spartan way she could think of. There could be no sex for her. She would socialise up to that point, but never move beyond it. She couldn’t; not if she wanted to be a quartz worthy of memories other than her implacable sex drive.

She retrieved the comb from the pool and placed it on the rim of the basin, then collected her washcloth and chosen soap. She knew what she was supposed to do next, but the firm proof that she was defective in ways which mattered- rather than just her appearance- had left her angry; angry at herself for believing that she was normal for one single moment, at Serendibite for giving her hope, at the technicians who had messed up so badly when creating her, at the other quartzes for igniting her lust as easily as a spark amongst kindling. Her resentment did not go unnoticed.

“Let me guess,” Serendibite sighed, squeezing water out of her hair, “You believed me for a second, then decided that I’m underestimating how fucked up you are, and now you’re right back to hating yourself for being so thirsty,”

“Well,” Jasper said awkwardly, “It’s true,”

“I’m not going to be able to change your mind on this,” Serendibite said with a sad twist of her lips, “Because I can’t change the way you think- about this, and about yourself. You’re going to have to learn that on your own. I’ll say this one last time, though: you don’t need to be ashamed of what you want it, or how you want it- and, if you ever decide to just go for it and fuck someone, you don’t need to be ashamed of it afterwards. You’ve got a lot of internalised stuff to work though. I don’t know what you’ve heard or seen, but it’s clear that continuing to tell you that there’s nothing wrong with wanting loads of sex with multiple partners isn’t going to help. So I’ll stop. Just…at least remember what I’ve told you today, OK?”

“Alright,” Jasper nodded, “I hope you’re right,”

“I am,” Serendibite smirked, “I always am,”

“Modest, too,” Jasper muttered, following up this dry remark with a wince as she realised that she’d insulted the very important gem who had just spent the better part of an hour trying to help her. But, to her surprise, Serendibite seemed pleased by her daring.

“Now you’re getting it,” Serendibite nodded approvingly, nudging Jasper lightly with her elbow and almost sending her crashing into the water, “Fuck, sorry. Yeah, definitely roast the fuck out of them. They probably deserve it, anyway. Believe it or not, they’ll respect you more for it,”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jasper nodded.

She briefly considered asking Serendibite to help her bathe too, but, on balance, it would be a terrible idea to test her restraint in this way. She couldn’t trust herself not to give into temptation. The moment a broad palm cupped the cloth around her crimson folds, she was sure she’d be seized with the urge to bend over the side of the pool and present herself for Serendibite’s use. She didn’t want to prove Megs and the others right about her. Instead, she washed her body perfunctorily, gritting her teeth as the washcloth rasped over her nipples, the band of her throat, her nape, her thighs, between her buttocks, across the slickness of her tender cunt…

“Fuck it all!” she swore, throwing the cloth away from her, “You should have me crushed now and get it over with! I’m only going to be a liability in the field!”

It was true. She could hardly pretend otherwise, when even her own efficient attempts to clean her body were making her wet. Sparks danced before her eyes as she ground the heels of her palms into her sockets, growling and tearing up with frustration.

“Ah,” Serendibite grimaced, “No, this is normal. The heat doesn’t just turn off like a switch, you know. We only lock gems up while they’re in the peak stage, but, once a quartz has stopped producing pheromones, she’s safe to be released. You’re going to be experiencing heightened responsivity for a while- possibly a few days more, while your body returns to normal. Your desires are still your own, obviously. You’ll just be a little more sensitive than normal. Does that help?”

Jasper slowly lifted her head to meet Serendibite’s honest, open gaze, but her mind was filled with Jib (“Alright, it’s not normal”), and Megs (“She’s a loose cannon. If she doesn’t get someone shattered because she can’t keep her legs closed, she’ll get someone shattered by flipping out in the field”), and the painful realisation that, good as Serendibite’s intentions were- as experienced, dedicated, and wise as she undoubtedly was- Megs probably had the measure of it better than her.

“Serendibite, be honest with me,” Jasper said, “Are there other quartzes or other gems who are like me? Who don’t want to dominate during sex, and can’t keep a lid on their desires?”

Serendibite’s hesitation was answer enough. Jasper felt like she had a belly full of rocks.

“Everyone’s different,” Serendibite said, “No, stop. I know that look. It’s not what you think. The truth is, there’s no such thing as “normal” when it comes to quartzes. There are common traits and average baselines, but everyone is different. Alright? I want you to remember that. Yes, OK, I’ll admit that you’re hornier than anyone else I’ve ever met, but you’re forgetting that quartzes are constantly fucking. We’re a horny caste anyway. I can tell this isn’t helping at all, but there’s nothing wrong with being an outlier. Look at me. I’m unique. No other Serendibites exist. None. No other quartz is as tall as me. And I can tell you have unique traits too. You don’t look anything like the other jaspers, and you’re bigger, stronger, faster than the others. So what if your sexual preferences are a little different too? I have full confidence that you’re not harming anyone, and there’s no way it’ll hinder you in battle. It’s bullshit to think otherwise. Anyway, I think you’re concentrating on the wrong things. If you want to be ashamed of your sexuality- alright, I disagree with that…but I can’t stop you. But you have a lot of militarily useful abilities too, and you’re going to realise that when you start training with the rest of your batch.

Now rinse off and I’ll take you to the barracks. You’ll be bunking with your new squad. There are thirty one of you in total, and you’ll form a platoon when your training period is complete. Once we’re sure you can handle yourselves, one of you will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and given command over the rest of the group. My money’s on you,”

Jasper was so blindsided by Serendibite’s aggressive confidence in her abilities, that she essentially forgot about her concerns over her sex drive effecting her productivity as a soldier, and basked in the glow of Serendibite’s warm regard. By the time they were out in the open again, refreshed and dressed (Serendibite in her uniform, Jasper in her rough robe), the presence of other quartzes had driven Jasper’s anxiety up again.

“What the fuck are you looking at?” she barked, remembering what Serendibite had told her. The green-speckled aventurine who had been staring fixedly at her for the past few minutes seemed shocked for a moment, before she reacted the way every quartz did when confronted: by pushing back.

“A spectacular pair of tits and thighs I’d be happy to die between,” she smirked. Sniggering broke out around them, but Jasper knew she had to stand her ground and maintain control. She had to have the last word.

“I’m sure I can arrange to crush you into dust with my thighs,” she sneered, “But if you want my tits, you’ll have to take a number and line up, and I’ll see if I’m interested. I have standards, you know,”

The aventurine’s jaw dropped. Jasper gifted her with a frigid smile and flounced away with a confidence she didn’t really feel, but was determined to fake if it meant the others would start taking her seriously because of it. After a few paces, she realised that she didn’t know where she was going, and would have stubbornly continued wandering off in a random direction if Serendibite hadn’t appeared at her side and subtly guided her towards the right. Serendibite didn’t say anything, but her quiet approval was implicit.

Act IV: as honey: desire is poured upon your lovely face

The barracks were much bigger than Jasper had expected; a collection of narrow, single-storey buildings, crafted from the latest synthetic materials which were designed to withstand the rough-housing of dozens of hefty quartz warriors. She was led into a block marked “G7”, which was composed of one long, abstemious room, gleaming in shades of metallic green. Two lines of bunks flanked a tiled walkway, but apart from this, the room was devoid of embellishment. It was also packed with quartzes. They were lying across bunks, sitting on the floor, milling around without their boots off as they enjoyed their downtime; chatting and laughing comfortably with one another. They must have been ordered to congregate for some purpose, or else she doubted that they would have been in here in the middle of the day. She had a horrible inkling that it was something to do with her.

“Ay, Serendi!” a chalcedony greeted loudly when she spotted them, “Gems, Serendi’s here!”

The only thing louder than the sudden roar of thirty cheering quartzs was the thundering in Jasper’s ears. That voice was immediately recognisable. From inside the vault, she’d heard it attempting to persuade a cluster of quartzes that fucking was all she was good for. Jasper hadn’t forgotten, and now she weighed up the chalcedony with a curl of her lip. This gem was of the yellow variety; a moderately tall, robust individual, with a shock of pale hair and crisscrossing bands of bronze on her wrists, chin, and chest. Her eyes were so pale, they were almost white, Jasper noticed as she glared into them, unblinking.

This was the right thing to do, she reminded herself. She had to start throwing her weight around, and making them roll with her punches for once- or she’d never be able to prove herself to them. She just had to be careful not to make too many enemies in the process.

“Hey, Baby Jasper, this is-,” Serendibite began her introduction, but Jasper cut her off with all of the brutal brusqueness of a sword through flesh.

“Megs,” she said, with a tight smile, “Hey. It’s me…the slutty newbie. Yeah…I heard you, bitch,”

For a fraction of a moment, the silence was absolute. Every quartz in the room seemed to be sporting a slack jaw and wide eyes- including Megs, who clearly hadn’t expected to be confronted so savagely by the quartz she had claimed would be a burden in the field; by the quartz she had claimed would be best suited to life on the end of a dick, rather than in the military.

Abruptly, a loud, gleeful cackle punctured the silence, seemingly awakening the rest of the barracks from their stupor. Tricks had risen from her bunk to applaud Jasper, in spite of the flat, tight-lipped look Megs was sending her. She wasn’t the last to do so. As the laughter and jeering echoed off the walls deafeningly, Megs turned to Jasper with a deep sigh.

“Alright,” she said, palms held up in surrender, “That’s one to you. You’re fucking savage, you know that, right?”

“I wouldn’t have to be if you all weren’t such jerk offs,” Jasper retorted, hands on hips. She had to fight the urge to laugh when an agreeable mumble and a few “that’s fair”s rippled through the barracks.

“Yeah, she curved Dottie in front of me and Lia,” the amethyst from the baths grinned from her bunk, leaning up on her elbows, “Ice cold. I was in love for a second- Oof!”

Sunny flopped on top of her abruptly, her considerable, muscular form squashing the air out of the poor amethyst. She rolled off with a snigger when the amethyst shoved her peevishly, coming to a stop with her head hanging off the bunk right beside Jasper.

“Now this is a view I like to see,” she sighed with a grin, looking straight up Jasper’s robe.

“You like punishment or something?” Jasper asked her, “I’ll sit on your head if you keep that up,”

“Baby Jasp, that’s the opposite of discouragement,” Sunny winked. Frizz, who was reclining on her own bunk with her hands behind her head, glanced over and whistled lewdly.

“Me next,” she called, wiggling her eyebrows, “I’ll assume the position,”

Jasper could have easily allowed herself to get overtly angry and agitated over their vulgarity, but she was cognisant of the reputation her inability to control herself had earned her, and had no desire to demonstrate her bull-headed irrationality in front of the entire barracks. She had tried fire in the past, and it had been no use to her. She had only convinced them that she was a wild creature of carnality and feral instincts. She would have to be ice, from now on: cold, ruthless, biting. Serendibite had advised her to control and direct her anger, and she had been right when Jasper had ripped into Megs. Perhaps continuing in the same vein would be the best course of action for her to take.

So, instead of taking Sunny’s and Frizz’s comments seriously and flying into a rage, she relaxed her face into what she hoped was a teasing expression- heavy-lidded eyes, an uplifted brow, a slow smirk- and stepped forwards. Sunny’s hair was soft against her inner thighs, and those full lips fell open in shock. It would have been wonderfully easy for Jasper to part her cunt and lower herself onto that mouth; hot and soft and red against red, the warm curl of tongue rubbing over the bud of her clit. She blocked out the cheers around them. For once, Sunny had nothing witty to say as she stared up between Jasper’s legs, at the scarlet gleam of her cunt. Jasper waited until Sunny’s breeches were distended over her engorged cock, then deliberately stepped back and away. It required all of her willpower to do so, but it was worth her personal frustration when Sunny scrambled up to stare at her in speechless shock as, all around them, the other quartzes whooped with glee.

“Oh, you can be quiet,” Jasper simpered, “Interesting. Would you mind telling me how to phase on clothing? I’m getting tired of being the only one naked around here,”

“Yeah, we should all get naked!” someone suggested blithely, to general enthusiastic agreement. Jasper froze up for a hot second, before she managed to claw back her bearings and fire back what she considered a pretty clever retort.

“Not all at once, gems, I’m still sore from my heat,” she said. That had to be counted a success, in her book; she shut everyone up, and she managed to do it in a way which couched her much gossiped-about proclivities in the guise of a joke. They couldn’t attempt to use it against her if she’d already spun it in her favour.

Sunny didn’t take her teasing to heart, and after a brief but facetious complaint about being all worked up with no-one to fuck, she happily coached Jasper through the process of phasing on a uniform. Half an hour later, Jasper shucked off her scratchy robe with palpable relief, and scrutinised her new uniform in the dull reflective surface of one of the walls. As far as she could tell, it looked good- and it was certainly comfortable. However, it was rather more fitted and low-cut than she had been expecting, bestowing her with an acute anxiety over the tensile strength of the seat of her outfit, and exposing a plenteous amount of cleavage. It manifested in shades of burgundy and brown; a peculiarity, considering the other quartzs’ tendencies to wear uniforms which adhered to their colour palettes. The predictable lewd remarks were inevitably flung her way, but she kept Serendibite’s advice in mind, and returned suggestive jokes rather than vitriol.

Cautiously (and perhaps prematurely) she allowed herself to attribute this atmosphere of relaxed geniality to her successful adoption of quartz social norms. Once she had pushed back the remembrance of her inadequacies in order to concentrate on her careful imitation of the behaviour patterns she observed around her, it was almost…easy. She had slipped on this guise as seamlessly as she had slipped on her uniform.

She found out later that Serendibite had taken her leave not long after she had introduced Jasper into the barracks. It made sense. There was no way Jasper could ingratiate herself with the other members of her batch if Serendibite was holding her hand the whole time. Still, the initial realisation that she’d been left to fend for herself amongst a batch of quartzes she was unfamiliar with- including at least four she had attacked during the last few hours alone- left her with a deep, cold pit of dread in her stomach. Her self-assurance faltered. She wasn’t scared, precisely; just cautious and wary.

Yet the reprisal she had been expecting never came. Apart from Meg’s enduring frown, Jasper detected no hostility in the body language or words of any of the gems in the room- and even Meg’s displeasure could be attributed to the four quartzs who had commandeered her bunk, and were exaggeratedly making out with each other as Megs tried to kick them off it. Jasper had to look away, hot in the face. Slowly, tentatively, she unspooled the tension coiled in her limbs, and incrementally lowered her guard.

The only remaining bunk was half way along the right side of the barracks, right between Tricks and Megs. It was comfortable; a foamy mattress, a pillow, a blanket. Jasper found it odd that they would be provided with such soft luxuries (particularly since gems didn’t need sleep like organics). Weren’t the top brass concerned that this would engender softness in their quartzs? However, once she was lying down on it, this question seemed trivial. She had almost forgotten how sore she was, but as she threw her legs apart, the sudden decrease in pressure against her abused pussy pulled a soft groan from her lips.

“Eight days is a long time, even for a quartz,” the onyx opposite her nodded with a glib grin. She was black all over, but her eyes were a bright, startling white. “You must be sore as fuck,”

Jasper regarded her narrowly. Her concern seemed genuine, but her pale eyes were fixed on Jasper’s groin. When she licked her lips (black, thick, pouting, shiny with spit), that familiar thrill surged through Jasper and flooded into her cunt. The onyx wanted to taste her there; to sweetly lap down her liquid heat as it dripped from her trembling pussy. Perhaps she should let her…just a little…

She pinched herself in remonstration, uncaring that it would look odd to anyone who had noticed. No, that was a terrible idea. She couldn’t do anything with any of these gems; not while the threat of ostracism still loomed large. One misstep- just one single moment of weak submission- and she’d lose what little respect she’d garnered for herself this afternoon.

She knew all of this, but that didn’t stop her from turning to the onyx with slow smile.

“What do they call you?” she asked. A thrill of a different kind shot down her back when the onyx responded by scrambling into a seated position and presenting Jasper with her undivided attention. It felt a lot like power.

“Buffer,” she said, “I hate it,”

“That’s because she’s a weak-ass bitch who can’t take a joke,” a nearby citrine sniggered, “We call her that because she’s great at rubbing one out,”

Unfortunately, Buffer didn’t seem to find this as amusing. It looked as though antagonism was about to flood the barracks when Jasper interjected with what she hoped was a placating smile.

“She seems interesting enough to me,” Jasper said. Anything to preclude a fist fight. She’d only just been given this bunk, and didn’t much appreciate the idea that it might shortly be ruined by a pair of squabbling, intransigent quartzes crashing through it.

In an instant, Buffer’s ire was calmed by the mere possibility that Jasper was intrigued by her, and Jasper was once again gripped by the headiness of the power she seemingly had over these quartzes. She had worried that it would be difficult to worm her way amongst them and fit in, but she was starting to think that she’d been going about this all wrong. Conformity was clearly a lost cause- her appearance alone saw to that- but Serendibite had suggested that she should be proud of how different she was from other jaspers- because her differences were strengths rather than weaknesses. Granted, she’d been referring to Jasper’s speed, strength, and stamina, but if Jasper could also turn her physical appearance to her advantage, she could carve herself a place in their ranks without expending all of her energy trying to avoid sexual situations.

Power satisfied a primal craving within her which was not sexual. When she thought of twisting these quartzs into obedience, her excitement was purely ascetic. There was no accompanying tightening of her belly, pulling at her cunt with a delicious, wet ache. She had no interest in driving her cock into their gasping, drooling mouths, or of bending them over and fucking them rough and hard, until they sobbed, breathless and used and still wanting. She wanted to be the one who was held down, and fucked and fucked until she could do little more than whimper wetly into the tiles. She wanted someone to wind her hair around their fists and grip her head in cruel fingers while they fucked her mouth until her throat was so inflamed, she wouldn’t be able to speak for days. For her, power and sex would never be bedmates.

She wondered if this was the major distinction between her and her fellow quartzes; that she left her desire to dominate at the figurative bedroom door, while they dragged it in with them. Her tendency towards submission could only be construed as weakness, so it was a pity that she couldn’t find it within her to crave that kind of power. So, for her purposes, sex itself was still out of the question. Offering the tantalising promise of sex, in exchange for the power it afforded her over her fellow quartzs, was not. Now she had a battle plan, it was time to shift tactics.

She returned her careful attention to the other members of her group, noting their unanimous interest in her with approval. She no longer feared them, or what they might do to her; and, similarly, she no longer cared if they objectified her, as long as she was able to get what she wanted in return. It was an exchange of power- but the balance was tipped heavily in her favour. She only had to watch the other quartzes trip over themselves to get her attention to know that.

“They call me Explosive Orgasms,” called the lydite on the bunk to the left of Buffer, “How you doing?”

“Like fuck they do, Sparks!” Tricks snorted, “By the way, Baby Jasp, my other nickname is-,”

“-Premature ejaculation!” Sunny called from five bunks away.

“Yeah, and they call Sunny “Sandpaper Cunt” when she bothers to make one!” Tricks hollered back over the rumble of thirty howling quartzes.

“I’m gonna go on record here as saying that I am amazing at eating ass,” a citrine grinned, throwing herself down on Meg’s bunk despite its owner’s evidence exasperation.

“I’ll be sure to call you if I ever need my ass eaten,” Jasper deadpanned, “But it’s not my ass which is sore,”

“Not yet,” Sparks said, “Speaking of which-,”

“Hey, if your pussy’s sore, I could kiss it better,” Buffer cut in. She was joking, but she meant it all the same.

“Alright,” Jasper said.

The sudden ripple of shocked murmuring which went up from the quartzes closest to her, and spread through their ranks like wind over grass, would have been amusing if it wasn’t so satisfying. Buffer’s tremulous, eager expression and tense limbs were more appropriate as a response to personal summons from a Diamond, rather than a nonchalant invitation to bury her face between Jasper’s legs.

A cursory sweep of the barracks confirmed what Jasper suspected. Envy was the dominant emotion, but she also spotted anticipation, hunger, admiration, and a plethora of other things. She had caused all of this, just by allowing one of their number to kiss her cunt. She wondered how long she could continue to exercise this level of control over them before they realised she had no intention of actually fucking anyone. She couldn’t; not without losing that control.

“Seriously?” Buffer swallowed. She sounded as hoarse as she would have, had she been recently strangled. A film of sweat gleamed on her brow, and her lip was bruise-smudged where it had been mashed between her teeth.

Jasper beckoned her closer with a curl of her finger, and patted the ruffled sheets in the gap between her spread thighs. For all of her talk, Buffer was remarkably ungainly when she got to her feet and stumbled over, her cock already filling out to form a provocatively fat bulge beneath the material of her uniform. It was shorter than Frizz’s or Sunny’s, but much thicker, and curved up near the crown. Its damp head strained insistently against Buffer’s breeches as she kneeled down beside Jasper’s bunk, as if awaiting orders. Nothing could supplant Jasper’s fantasies of being held down and fucked raw by other quartzes, but she had to confess that she did enjoy being treated with such admiration. Anyone who experienced sexual attraction would be hard pressed to not relish the prospect of being kissed between the thighs by a strapping quartz warrior.

“You suit that,” she told Buffer, stroking her hair on a whim, “On the floor, on your knees, for me. Did you think I wouldn’t call your bluff?”

“Well, fuck, I didn’t expect you to,” Buffer said, licking her lips again, “But I’m not passing up this chance. If it’s as nice as they say it is,”

She flicked her gaze down between Jasper’s legs, so heavy and heat-filled that Jasper almost imagined she could feel it. There was a ravenous intensity about Buffer, in the rigidity of her clenched fists, and the wetness of her mouth. Her irises had retreated to a sliver of pale silver around her dilated pupils.

Despite her clear longing, she didn’t so much as touch Jasper’s knee without permission. This could not be considered unexpected, considering the patterns of behaviour Jasper was beginning to pick out among the other quartzs. She had once cringed away from these gems, out of panic over what they might do to her; yet almost everytime she had lashed out at them, with the spike of her tongue, or with fists, claws, and teeth, they had not responded in kind. They all had mouths draped in filth and a constant, fiery longing for sex, but they cared about her comfort, and they cared about each other. How had she ever feared them? They were posturing; nothing more. Serendibite had said as much, when she’d described the acceptable ways in which quartzs expressed affection without being perceived as weak. Jasper wasn’t the only quartz attempting to live up to an ideal.

She carefully shuffled forwards, until she felt the edge of her bunk beneath her buttocks and hot exhalations puffing against her through the thin, clinging material of her uniform. For a brief moment, she lost her carefully maintained control, dropping her head back with a sigh and winding her fingers in her blankets in a bid for self-restraint. The appearance of a cocky smirk on Buffer’s face reminded her just why she could ill-afford to allow any of these quartzs to witness such moments of weakness.

“Do you like this?” she asked, “You can’t even see it. How can you be so desperate?”

“I can see enough,” Buffer murmured, her pale speckled cheeks blushing grey, “This uniform don’t hide nothing. Damn, Baby Jasp, Sunny wasn’t lying. Can I-?”

“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Jasper said, “And don’t call me that,”

She curtailed any response Buffer might have made by hooking her leg around her head, and yanking her in. Buffer’s nose was a delicious point of pressure against Jasper’s clit, but it was the warm softness of her plush lips which gave Jasper pause. Her cheeks burned.

“Well?” she snapped, trying to hide how flustered she really was, “Get to it,”

Jasper didn’t know what she’d been expecting. She had permitted Buffer to kiss her, but this was no chaste peck. It was the kind of sloppy kiss Jasper had witnessed through the mist in the baths; tongue and teeth and tender suckling, soothing the faint ache within her mistreated cunt. She swore and slapped her hand over her mouth, trembling and trying to ignore the wild exclamations of her audience. Although she had never seen her own pussy, she had pieced together a little of what it must look like from what the others quartzs had said of it. It was not hard to imagine its abundant red lips, swollen and dripping slick. She was melting, like gold in a furnace; and it was running out of her, hot and plentiful between Buffer’s reverent lips.

“Stop!” she gasped. To her surprise, she was obeyed instantly. Buffer sat back patiently, face shiny and dick surely throbbing. Her amusement at Jasper’s expense was to be expected, but her lack of resentment over being spurned mid-coitus was not.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Jasper said. The crotch of her suit clung, clammy and cold, to her groin. She felt nauseous.

“Sure,” Buffer shrugged with remarkable geniality, “It happens. You OK?”

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Jasper said. Shame scourged her skin like flames- an apt comparison, considering her current situation. She had played with fire, and it had burned her. She had been a fool to think she could use sex to her advantage. Her only achievement so far was to prove how much of a weak, mewling creature she was. Gems, she was pathetic.

“Done what?” Buffer snorted out a deep belly laugh, “Grind that pussy all up in my face? In case you didn’t notice, I wasn’t exactly protesting. Nah, you’re good. Great, even. Damn, you taste good! Let me know if you want to go again,”

“You had your go!” Sunny protested, “JJ, listen- my face makes the best seat. Hit me up next time,”

“Don’t kid yourself,” Buffer snorted.

“Fuck you!” Sunny hissed back, “Get over here and I’ll fucking show you!”

“Not if I show you first!” Buffer glared. Not a minute later, she was sliding her dick into Sunny’s mouth, Jasper’s slick still glistening on her face, and Jasper was left nonplussed and disorientated. On the plus side, she was so taken aback by their unusual behaviour that her arousal slipped away while she was trying to figure out how this had happened, leaving her tired, but not nearly as frustrated as she ought to be. Using her body to control them hadn’t worked- but that didn’t mean she should shrink away and distance herself from them. Serendibite had tantalised her with the possibility of eventual leadership, and she was loathe to let herself fall at the first trial. It was time to reassert herself.

In some ways, she was glad for the distraction Sunny and Buffer were inadvertently performing. It gave her a chance to compose herself, while the other quartzs reacted to their decision to derail chilling time with their liaison.

“Keep it the fuck down, you two! I’m trying to chill!” Frizz hollered, “You’re getting your dick sucked, not getting murdered, fuck’s sake!”

She had the misfortune of occupying the bunk right next to Sunny’s, and plainly wasn’t impressed that they’d started screwing loudly right next to her. Her annoyance was highly entertaining, particularly when she started throwing other gems’ pillows at the amorous pair, and merely provoked a couple of crude gestures in return. Based on the disgruntled murmuring breaking out, she wasn’t the only one who had been rendered unimpressed by Sunny’s and Buffer’s impromptu sex act.

“Anyone who wants to punch Sunny and Buffer in their ugly mugs, get over here and hang with us,” Tricks called, “Push the bunks together, let’s pile up…if that’s cool with you, JJ?”

“Pile up?” Jasper asked, “JJ?”

“You look like you’re about to rip someone’s throat out with your teeth when anyone calls you Baby Jasp,” Tricks shrugged, “And the other thing…you know, a quartz pile? All of us in a big heap, just chilling together? You want in? Mostly, it gets sexy real quick, but we’re just hanging today. Serendi fucked us all in training- and not in the fun way,”

“You’d probably be walking bow-legged even if she did just bend you over,” Frizz quipped, pushing Trick’s bunk towards Jasper’s while the owner was still sitting on it, “She could bludgeon someone with that thing. Oh, hey, JJ looks kinda interested. You got the hots for Serendi, JJ?”

Caught. A warm flush climbed her face, chasing away the last vestiges of her former confidence. She wondered how it had all gone so wrong. She’d had these quartzes eating out of the palm of her hand, and then she’d panicked; panicked because she had been grinding and dripping into Buffer’s warm mouth within seconds of the first touch. Naivety had prompted her to think that she could weaponise her body instead of falling victim to her own urges. For one bright moment, she had believed that she could use her body, instead of letting it use her; that it could help, rather than hinder her. And then, she’d lost control. Buffer’s smirk had been the worst part of it all; that slow moment in which she’d realised that she had all of the control, and Jasper was wriggling around beneath her touch like some dainty little pearl. Disgusting.

As if to intensify her feeling of inadequacy, her ill-concealed interest in Serendibite had now been drudged up. The glee on the other quartzs’ faces was proof enough that she was about to be subjected to a ruthless grilling.

“Yeah, she’s fucking hung,” Ginger grinned, plonking her ass on the end of Jasper’s bunk, “I wanna get me some of that, if you know what I mean,”

“Well, that’s not exactly a subtle innuendo,” Jasper retorted, “So yeah, I know what you mean,”

“Of course you do,” Ginger grinned, sharp and sly, “If you asked her, I bet she’d fuck you,”

“No, don’t say anything yet,” Sparks urged, dumping a pile of blankets in Jasper’s lap, “Let’s pile up, then we can start talking about how everyone wants to bang Serendi,”

Whether by accident or design, Jasper ended up in the middle of the group. She was inclined to attribute this to design; a conviction which only crystallised when the other quartzes started jostling over who would be afforded the privilege of lying beside her.

“It’s because you’re new,” Ginger said, watching the discreet scuffle unfold from her spot on the bed beside Jasper.

“I’ll fight to the death to rest my head on those tits,” Frizz added, “Not gonna lie,”

“Rest your head on someone else’s damn tits,” Jasper grumbled, coaxing a surprised laugh from Frizz.

By the time everyone was settled, Buffer and Sunny had migrated to the floor, stripped nude and steaming with sweat as they rutted animalistically. Jasper noted her drying juices on Buffer’s enraptured face with a peculiar thrill. Her efforts to ignore the alluring spectacle were ruined as Buffer came with a deep groan of her name, and Sunny understandably took issue with that. The whole thing was smoothed over when Sunny sheepishly admitted that she too had been thinking of Jasper, and Buffer finished her off with her hand by way of appeasement.

Afterwards, they sloped off to the baths together, leaving behind a sniggering pile of quartzs and an extremely frustrated Jasper. She was right in the thick of it; enveloped by warm weight and the memories of Buffer’s head between her legs. Frizz had gotten her wish with only a little complaining from Jasper. She was wrapped around Jasper’s right side; her head pillowed by the cushion of Jasper’s right breast, and her leg looped around Jasper’s thigh. Her ever-moving hands were proof enough that she possessed an enduring fascination with Jasper’s foreign softness, which was a trait not found in other gems of Jasper’s type. Jasper had been on the verge of telling her to stop, when she had noticed that the other quartzs around and over her were also touching each other, gently and contentedly. So she held herself still and tentatively ran her fingers through Frizz’s exceptionally voluminous mane, trying to ignore the heat pooling in her belly as those strong hands roamed over her.

Frizz praised Jasper’s softness in an adoring murmur, while pressing her fingers into the meat of a hip to feel the gentle give; pinching the yield of her belly and palming great handfuls of her soft inner thighs, so close to Jasper’s damp folds. Her tender exploration was soon aided by Ginger, who drowsed with her face in Jasper’s neck as she tickled her fingers up Jasper’s ribs to cup, and then kneed, the heaviness of a breast. When the unnamed citrine occupying her leg joined in, fingers digging suddenly and sharply into the thick curve of a buttock, Jasper hissed in a breath through her teeth and wondered what they would all think of her if she came from this alone.

They were all around her and on top of her; more and more hands curling around her waist, squeezing her hips and belly, grasping and pinching her thighs, her ass, her arms. The crux of her groin was soaked again.

“Wow,” Tricks remarked, resting her chin on Jasper’s thigh, “Juicy,”

“What do you think the other J stands for?” Frizz grinned. The resultant sly sniggers drew a blush to Jasper’s cheeks.

“Alright, everyone off,” she announced, “I need space, not your fat asses all over me,”

“Space,” Tricks said, even as she rolled off Jasper with a shameless tent in her pants, “Right. Well, you go and get your space, and we’ll keep some room for you when you get back. If you see Sunny and Buffer, let them know we’ve got room here when they’re done needing their space,”

“Yeah, you can act cocky all you want,” Jasper grumbled, extricating her arm from Ginger’s hold, “But just remember that you’re going to be here choking on Frizz’s hair, not watching me get myself off. Bye,”

She slipped away amidst their light-hearted cries of mock outrage. Once she was outside, she had no clue where to go, and rapidly became certain that she probably shouldn’t be trying to find a secluded spot in which to touch herself when she was still tender from her heat. Yet not five minutes later, she was hunkered down behind a weapons store, furtively peeling her uniform off her shoulders and down to her knees. Her skin was instantly chilled, but her centre burned like the heart of a star when she ran her forefinger through its humid heat. She was so wet that even the hair edging her slit was sodden; and that smell, that spicy musk she had scented during her heat, was wafting off her. Experimentally, she sucked her finger into her mouth, tonguing her own slick with a shudder. She was damp all the way down to the bends of her knees.

Without her heat spurning her to desperation, she was able to touch herself slowly, mindful of the discomfort she’d caused herself during her eight days of confinement. Her head thudded back against the wall behind her, as a shaky sigh fell from her open mouth. If she concentrated, she could still recall the smooth glide of tongue and lips, tugging and lathing so warm and sweet, even through the thin material of her uniform. She’d be lying to herself if she refused to admit that she wanted that mouth back; that she wanted to push that quartz down onto a bunk, and straddle her face, and grind down until her cheeks and nose were shiny and wet, and all she could smell and taste was Jasper’s cunt. She wanted all of those hands back on her, sliding over her naked flesh and into each tender dip, groping and squeezing until her skin blushed and bruised beneath their touch. If she hadn’t stopped them, she was sure that they would have brought her to her peak, screaming and convulsing in paroxysms of ecstasy. Maybe they’d pinch her cunt too; gently, so as not to damage her, but enough to squeeze her inner labia and swollen clit in the clamp of her plump outer lips. The image was sufficient to make Jasper gasp. When she tried it on herself, fingers slipping in her copious juices, a fresh trickle leaked out of her, steaming in the cold night air.

She gripped her own thighs until she felt them bruise; palmed the slight paunch of her belly and the curve of her hips. She settled on her breasts, groping their yielding fullness as she thumbed her red nipples, buzzing with sensitivity. It was barely enough. She bitterly craved the forcible touches of her batch mates, but couldn’t replicate the sensation of their hands- a dozen of them, all thick, calloused, and strong- exploring her as worshipfully as if she had been a Diamond.

Her mind lingered over what could have happened, had she not scampered away from the pile with colour in her cheeks and a shameful throbbing within her core. It would have been Frizz who slipped her hand higher, she decided. Frizz had touched her first, skittering daringly high up Jasper’s thighs to knead them rapaciously. It was only logical to presume that Frizz’s hands would have eventually crept up, over the clinging fabric cover Jasper’s thighs, to press at her clothed cunt. A whimper bubbled up in Jasper’s throat, and she ground against her fingertips, head filled with the image of Frizz sucking on her throat as she punished Jasper’s already abused pussy with her harsh touch. Frizz wouldn’t be able to fuck her like this, but she could whisper in her ear while fingering her sopping folds through her uniform. She’d tell Jasper how she was going to use her; bent over, chin to the ground, cunt plundered from behind as Frizz’s hot breath hissed past her ear. And, once she was done, she would move aside and let the next quartz take her fill- and then the next, and the next, until Jasper was ruined and whimpering, and oozing come from between her shaking thighs. She cried out when she came, consumed with her fantasies and gushing past the mesh of her fingers.

With her eyes closed and her other senses otherwise absorbed in her pleasure, she was unable to detect the approach of another gem until a surprised laugh startled her out of her revelry. She yanked her hand from between her thighs with a wet noise, hurriedly wiping it on her belly. This was a terrible decision; the huge shiny smear across her middle could only have contributed to her general aspect of debauchery, she was sure. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or embarrassed when she looked up- with her uniform tangled around her open legs and the dripping spread of her folds lewdly evident- and met Serendibite’s amused gaze.

“I’ve heard quartzes described as insatiable before, but you’re something else,” she said, “I’ve just met with Sunny and Buffer. They had some interesting tales to tell,”

“I’m busy,” Jasper retorted impatiently, cupping at hand over her groin in some futile illusory attempt at modesty.

“I’m not stopping you,” Serendibite said, raising an eyebrow, “You’ve been trying to manipulate them, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” Jasper admitted unrepentantly, “It worked…until I lost control,”

“You shouldn’t be manipulating them period,” Serendibite chided her, “That’s no way to bond with your batch mates. They’ll never trust you if you pull that- and it’s not going to help you to trust them either,”

“They only like me because they want to fuck me anyway,” Jasper said, and it was the truth, “I thought it would be a mutually beneficial relationship. I don’t make a big deal out of being seen as a glorified dick warmer, and they do what I tell them to,”

“Is this the result?” Serendibite smirked, “Buffer told me she called your bluff and got you wetter than a monsoon,”

“No,” Jasper snapped, stung, “This was…something else. And you can tell Buffer that-,”

“Or you can admit that trying to manipulate other quartzes is wrong,” Serendibite cut her off, “Did anything I told you penetrate that thick head of yours? I told you that everything we do with our fellow quartzs is in the name of building up bonds- of trust, loyalty, love, fellowship…not so that we can play our games and turn our barracks into corridors of power,”

She sounded disappointed, but Jasper was unwilling to concede defeat just yet.

“They’re never going to trust me!” she said, “I’ve heard some of them talking…they think I’m weak…a liability in the field. None of them think I could hold my own or work well as part of a team. They think I’d get somebody killed by spending too much time on my knees!”

“And you thought manipulating them was the best way to get them to take you seriously and trust you?” Serendibite asked, crossing her arms with a disapproving curl to her lip.

“It doesn’t matter, because it didn’t work,” Jasper shrugged. She suddenly felt even smaller than usual under Serendibite’s weighty gaze. She hadn’t even pulled her uniform back up yet.

“And if it had worked, you would have kept doing it,” Serendibite surmised, “I don’t think you’re getting it. You’re sorry it didn’t work- not sorry that you tried it in the first place. You talk about them having no respect for you, but you can’t respect them either. You want them to do all of the work while you wait for them to grovel at your feet. Well, I’ve got news for you, princess. I couldn’t give a steaming fuck that you’re a hot pair of tits- everyone around here is a team player. Now you need to get with the programme if you want to be considered for leadership at some point- because being a leader isn’t about being above everyone else. It’s about understanding the needs of your team, and working with them to achieve a common goal. You got that?”

She was genuinely angry, Jasper realised. It was a carefully controlled anger, but it was anger nonetheless. Her bearing could best be described as an affected looseness. She held her arms at her sides with all the nonchalance of a gem who knew that her wrath was terrifying, but her eyes were flinty and narrowed beneath her heavy brow. Jasper’s gut twisted in response- and not out of fear.

“If you’re expecting me to care about them and trust them after one day-,” she argued back.

“Of course I’m not!” Serendibite groaned, rubbing her temples, “Trust, love, loyalty…it all comes over time. But you have to start making an effort to create these bonds today. No short cuts. No damn games. Because you’ve got to remember that they’re supposed to have your back, just like you’re supposed to have theirs’; and how can you ever expect to be promoted to a leadership role if your fellow soldiers can’t trust you?”

“And how can I trust them if they can’t trust me?” Jasper demanded, slamming her fists into the ground. Bare rock shattered beneath her ire, and the weapons store behind her shook on its foundations. For a long second, she wondered if she’d gone too far.

“It’s about give and take, and not thinking about it like an objective or task!” Serendibite barked, “One day, you’re going to be sitting around a watch fire on some distant colony, and you’re going to realise that those quartzes- who you say you can’t trust, who you see as games pieces, to be manipulated at your leisure- you’ll realise that you would die for them without giving it a second thought! Think on that and prove to me you’ve got what it takes in training tomorrow,”


	2. Complication

Act V: Diana’s mercy

After she had left, and Jasper had picked herself up and wended her way towards the baths with a peculiar, unattributable shame, she decided that perhaps a modicum of introspection was in order. 

There was little chance that Serendibite’s leniency was rooted in favouritism. It was true that she was warm and friendly towards Jasper, and seemed to take an interest in her assimilation into the group- yet the informal relationship between Serendibite and the other gems with whom she interacted, demonstrated that this synergy was universal (not something which only characterised her relations with Jasper). Put another way, she concerned herself with the development of all of the soldiers under her supervision. If she was taking an especial interest in Jasper at the moment, that was because Jasper was new; an outsider, and a wildcard who could impact the batch’s established cohesion. 

That didn’t mean that her concern wasn’t genuine. Every conversation she’d shared with Jasper had been about how Jasper was integrating herself into the group, interspersed with advice on how to forge bonds with her fellow quartzes, and a strong emphasis on the importance of trust, love, and loyalty between soldiers. She had been truly angry when she had found out that Jasper had been attempting to manipulate the others. This told Jasper two important things: firstly, that Serendbite’s advice was sincere; and, secondly, that she honestly believed in the necessity of quartzes bonding with one another- truthfully, authentically, and irrevocably. Jasper could scoff at Serendibite’s advice all she liked, but the truth was that Serendibite was old and experienced, while Jasper was virtually a fledgling. If Serendibite said that there was a proper way to integrate with the other quartzes, she was probably right.

The baths were virtually deserted at this hour, probably because most quartzes were recuperating in their barracks before another gruelling day of training tomorrow. Jasper could have chosen any of the empty bathing rooms in which to clean off, in the comparative solitude of her own noisy thoughts. Instead, she followed the faint sounds of splashing and murmuring, and made a beeline for what was the only occupied room. She hoped that she wasn’t about to interrupt another assignation. She knew as well as anyone that quartzes had notorious libidos and enhanced stamina. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Sunny and Buffer had decided to go for round two. 

They were huddled together at the end of the pool, but, as far as Jasper could tell, they were only talking. Even from this distance, their quiet intimacy was apparent in their lingering touches and open body language. It was a far cry from the power play she’d initiated with both of them less than an hour ago. 

For some reason, that wound Jasper up inside even more than watching them fuck on the barracks floor. She had made a mistake. She didn’t belong here, intruding on this sincere moment between two gems who loved and trusted each other implicitly. She should leave them alone in their little bubble, and perhaps attempt reconciliation tomorrow. This wasn’t the venue for a bust up. She wouldn’t be responsible for exacerbating wounds; her’s, or anyone else’s.

As she made to retreat, her gaze collided with Sunny’s through the steam, and she found herself rooted in place. Indecision took the place of her former resolve as she considered her next move, still locked in the crosshairs of those eyes. If she left now, Sunny and Buffer would attribute her reticence to cowardice- and Jasper was no coward, whatever the others might think. She could feel it in her very gem. She would not let them think otherwise.

With a slow exhale, she lowered her shoulders, lifted her head, and stepped into the room.

“Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” she asked, in what she considered a valiant attempt at nonchalance.

“Sure,” Buffer grinned, shifting over on the bench, “It’s kind of hard to say no to you. But you already know that, don’t you?”

“Can you blame me?” Jasper said, instantly on the defensive, “It’s not like you gems are coming from a position of virtue. You talk about what you want to do to me more than you talk about me as a gem. I thought I could use that to get what I want,”

She undressed quickly as she spoke, doing her level best to appear indifferent to their scrutiny. Even so, she felt the urge to cover herself as she stepped into the pool and splashed over to them. She didn’t think it was a coincidence that they had deliberately cleared a space for her between them, but their behaviour was sufficiently unassuming that she felt safe when she took the proffered seat and leaned back against the wall.

“Point,” Buffer admitted, tossing her a washcloth, “Alright, if it bothers you, we’ll tone it down. So hop in and we’ll call it quits. Why do you need another bath, anyway? You only had one a few hours ago,”

“Because,” Jasper said, “Apart from you… “getting me wetter than a monsoon”…I made the stupid decision of getting into one of those piles,”

“Heh…juicy,” Sunny sniggered, “You can thank me for that, by the way. You said you didn’t like Baby Jasp, so I thought up something else,”

“And when was this decided, exactly?” Jasper frowned.

“I think you were screaming with Buffer’s tongue in your pussy at the time,” Sunny disclosed, nudging her with a grin.

“Yeah, you get wet,” Buffer added unnecessarily, “Real wet. I’ve never seen anything like it before. You a squirter?”

“No!” Jasper snapped on reflex, despite not even knowing what that meant. However, she was willing to stake a decent sum on it being something lewd.

“Yeah, I’m sure that underground lake was because of leaky plumbing,” Sunny smirked, unconvinced.

“Fuck off,” Jasper grumbled, briskly soaping herself up, “It wasn’t that bad. Don’t exaggerate. Now which one of you is willing to wash my back?”

“Excellent deflection,” Sunny said approvingly, taking the washcloth before Buffer could, “With a little work, you could be pretty damn good at manipulating gems,”

“Serendibite told me not to,” Jasper said narrowly, wondering if she was being tested, “She’s worried about the team-,”

“Well, yeah, don’t use it on us,” Sunny shrugged, “But you could use it on other gems during missions. Most rebels and dissidents won’t talk even under the threat of death, but if you stick those honkers in their faces and work your magic, you could get the info out of them in no time,”

“I highly doubt that a committed rebel would be swayed by a pair of tits,” Jasper rolled her eyes, “Serendibite’s right. I shouldn’t do that to gems. Besides…it’s not really an achievement if I don’t get what I want through my own hard work,”

"Serendi’s just being her usual, too honourable self. She’d never resort to such tactics- but I think some situations call for it. Alright, yeah, you’d never get anywhere just sticking your tits in some gem’s face, but if you asked the right questions and were subtle enough, they’re not exactly going to impede your interrogation attempt. Just think about it, OK?”

“Did you just say “impede your interrogation attempt”?”Buffer laughed before Jasper could offer a reply, “You mean you haven’t fucked your brains out yet?”

In the ensuing playful argument, Jasper was able to avoid considering Sunny’s suggestion; yet, despite her inclination to trust Serendibite’s judgement, she spent much of her free time over the next few weeks questioning the veracity of Sunny’s alternative viewpoint. She made little headway in this regard; her free time had become remarkably limited.

Most of her days were occupied with the gruelling rigours of military training. There was no denying that quartzes were bred to be tough, but even they stumbled back to their barracks at sundown with more aches that they had previously thought possible, before crawling off their bunks and doing the same thing all over again, from dawn on the next day. On a positive note, Jasper was rapidly distinguishing herself as the most talented soldier in the group. She had received several admonitions regarding her team work skills, and her inability to listen to orders when she felt they ran counter to the exercise objective; but generally, her progress reports were favourable. 

Now the other gems talked about her combative abilities as much as her physical appearance. Surprisingly, however, their intensive training didn’t seem to impact their libidos at all. Jasper frequently interrupted a dalliance behind some administration building or other, and often had cause to leave the barracks while the other members of her group pushed their bunks together and fell into a pile of lust and limbs. She declined any and all invitations to join in. If there was one thing she’d learned so far, it was that the loss of control which came with sex was not a price worth paying for a few hours’ fun. She had ambitions and goals she could not achieve on her back. She was more than her treacherous body.

Act VI: the coming of Promachos

If the others were affronted by her distance, they didn’t show it. She could tell that they were confused by her lack of interest in joining them- but Sunny must have talked to the rest of the barracks, because they didn’t press the issue. They could hardly have been unaware that she was sneaking away to touch herself while they were occupied with each other. She wondered what they thought of that, and whether they thought of her as the fucked each other. Did Sunny still imagine it was Jasper around her dick while she rutted into one of the other quartzs? Did Buffer slide her tongue into someone else’s folds and pretend she was buried between Jasper’s thighs? Did Ginger or Sparks or any of the others kiss each other and think of her?

In the end, it didn’t really matter. Such speculation only fed her ego, rather than serving any practical purpose. She needed to concentrate on her training. 

Serendibite had maintained a frequent but impermanent presence in the kindergarten since she had fished Jasper out of the vault and brought her up to speed. Ginger had explained that Serendibite was their Supervisor, and they were lucky to have her, since she was an influential General in Yellow Diamond’s armies. This also meant that she often had to leave to attend to other business, but she sustained a steady correspondence with their commandants, and requested regular updates on their progress from the trainees themselves. Her commitment to her soldiers had to be commended.

Their first foray beyond the kindergarten complex was a simple field mission, undertaken beneath Serendibite’s watchful eye. It was a remarkable success, but they were warned not to become cocky or complacent just because they had managed to achieve all of their objectives on this occasion. Yet after a year’s worth of successful missions, a little confidence in their abilities and teamwork seemed warranted; and after two, their batch’s cohesion seemed to fully solidify. They were a seamless whole, made from a patchwork of irregular pieces which only made sense as a unit. A decade later, Jasper had to grudgingly admit that Serendibite was absolutely right: Jasper would die for any one of her team mates, and she was sure that the sentiment was mutual. 

JJ was no longer an irritating reminder of her early humiliations. Now, it was spoken with affection and respect, such as she’d craved from the moment of her extraction. From an outside perspective, it could perhaps be expected that they would have held her in high esteem by this point. She had saved each of them in their turn from being destroyed or crushed; and it had been in their defence that she had first summoned her gem weapon and annihilated a gem beast which they had all considered beyond the strength of a single quartz. It had towered above them, a vast configuration of tentacles and shrieking, snake-like heads, terrorising the local populace and impacting Homeworld’s iron mining programmes. True to her namesake, Brash had rushed in with a battlecry, her flail held high as she prepared to deal a devastating blow- and then she had been caught by a glancing blow from a tentacle, which had smashed her into the side of a cliff until she’d disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 

“Fuck’s sake, Brash,” Jasper could recall sighing, “Sunny, stop sniggering before I beat your ass,”

“Promises, promises, JJ,” Sunny had grinned, hefting her great sword over her shoulder.

The day had ended with Jasper’s head adorned in a magnificent golden helmet as the indigenous humans fawned over her. She wasn’t the only one to receive such treatment, but they seemed to perceive her as the leader of the group, and the others as her subordinates. 

“Aθάνα! Aθάνα!” the humans had chanted, adorning her with flowers and wreaths, kissing her hands worshipfully as they bowed to her. It was a strange day.

The end of their grace period came upon them quickly. Final reports were submitted, clearance levels were assigned, Jasper was finally imprinted with her designation (twenty five years late), and Serendibite informed them that she would be signing off as their Supervisor that very day. 

It was a lot to process, even without the bombshell Serendibite dropped on them on the heels of her announcements. Her chosen venue for the event was a bathing room in the mountainous heart of Sector 120315; a setting ill-suited to an occasion of such gravitas. Then again, that was probably the point. Quartzes were a physical breed of gem, but only within prescribed limits- and they were definitely not supposed to become clingy and teary-eyed over their Supervisor leaving them under the care of one of their own. Serendibite must surely have known that catching them in an informal setting would at least partially negate the solemnity of this occasion. She was helping them all to save face. With the benefit of hindsight, Jasper would be grateful for that.

On the field, their group conducted itself with complete professionalism (albeit, with frequent wisecracks during downtime). The same could not be said of their performance off the field. They had scandalised many an aristocrat with their behaviour, but despite the occasional dressing down they’d received, they didn’t trouble to modify their off-the-clock conduct. Nor did Serendibite encourage them to. Nonetheless, her lips puckered up in disapproval when she entered the room to find Jasper pinning Frizz on the walkway near the pool, while the room resonated with the cacophony of twenty eight cheering quartzes.

“You want to say that again?” Jasper asked, pinning Frizz’s arms above her head.

“Are you gonna rub your soapy hot body all over me and straddle me again if I do?” Frizz smirked back, “If so, yeah. Definitely,”

“That had better be your knee poking my ass,” Jasper warned with a facetious smirk, “Hello, Serendi,”

“It’s not her knee,” Serendibite said, by way of a greeting.

“I’d figured as much,” Jasper shrugged, “It doesn’t take her much. A good breeze will do it, somedays,”

“I think your tits in her face qualifies as a little more than a breeze,” Sunny grinned, resting her chin on her arms over the side of the pool, “JJ, you know we can literally see your tight little asshole in that position, right?”

“That’s funny, because I can see yours every time I look at your face,” Jasper shot back.

“Why are you looking at her asshole when her pussy’s right there?” Sparks asked, combing tangles out of her immense silver mane, “I’d almost forgotten what it looked like. You keep it under lock and key, JJ,”

“Lock and key?” Dottie snorted, “More like a combination lock and destabiliser field. Good luck getting in, because nobody’s guessed the combo in 25 years,”

This sounded like an expression of displeasure over Jasper’s long celibacy, but it was actually more of a recurring joke within the group. Jasper had long supposed that it was their way of acknowledging and accepting her choices without embarking on any heartfelt chatter over their feelings. They never pried into her reasoning; they merely recognised her reluctance and joked about it, to show that they understood and wouldn’t push the issue. They had kept to that unspoken promise for several decades.

“It’s not my fault you fuckers are so underwhelming,” Jasper sighed mockingly, igniting a chorus of cheerful protests, “Give it another twenty five years. I’ll see how I feel,”

“I can wait,” Poppy said, “Let me know when the planets align and I’ll be right there,”

“Or,” Serendibite said loudly, “You could all stop fucking around for five minutes and listen to this briefing- because it’s going to be the last one I ever give you,”

They had, of course, been fully aware that their Supervision period only lasted for twenty five years. They had even been informed that Serendibite would be leaving them during the course of the week, and their new leader would be one of their own. Hearing Serendibite utter those words made it real, somehow. Their former merriment was usurped by sober reality.

An interminable gulf seemed to open up in Jasper’s stomach as she contemplated life without Serendibite, whose constant, selfless mentoring had forged her into the gem she was today. Without Serendibite, Jasper would never have been able to connect with the other quartzes. Without Serendibite, Jasper wouldn’t even be alive. Knowing that they might never again cross paths was more painful than any blow she’d ever been dealt. Serendibite hadn’t even left yet, but Jasper felt her loss keenly- and, judging by the sombre faces around her, she was sure she wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

“Yeah,” Serendibite said, “I hate this part too,”

“I can’t believe you’re actually leaving us,” Jasper said; and then, because no quartz worth her gem would ever be caught dead acting sappy, she added: “Do you expect me to keep these dickbags from getting themselves killed all on my own?”

The ensuing grumble of unanimous scepticism suggested that Jasper’s comment had gone a long way towards lifting everyone’s spirits; but cracking a few gems couldn’t stop an army. If quartzes could cry, Jasper was sure they would have all been blubbering by now.

“Actually, that’s exactly what I expect you to do, Lieutenant,” Serendibite laughed, her eyes twinkling with mirth. 

From within her gem, she retrieved something small and glinting, and tossed it across the room to Jasper (who had to release her hold on Frizz’s arms to catch it). The moment she looked down at her palm to inspect it, she knew what it was. Its golden surface and rounded, triangular profile rendered it unmistakable.

“I said you had leadership qualities back then,” Serendibite said, “Your reports reflect that. Do this right, and you could be looking at another promotion during the next few centuries. Well? Try it on,”

“I’m naked,” Jasper laughed, even as she moved to do just as she’d been asked. The instant she pressed the little golden clasp to her sternum, a warm glow shot out of it, looping over her shoulders and down her back before dissipating to reveal a long black cloak in its place- the Lieutenant’s badge of office.

“I’ve had like…at least fifteen fantasies which start like this,” Frizz disclosed, tucking her arms behind her head as Jasper continued to straddle her, “The cloak was in all of them. I knew it would be you,”

“Was I naked in all of them too?” Jasper asked, with a droll smile.

“Surprisingly, no,” Frizz said, “There’s one featuring a leather corset, and there’s another one where I’ve been a bad soldier and-,”

“Fuck off,” Jasper snorted, with a gentle shove.

“So JJ’s the boss?” Brash asked, “Thank fuck. I was terrified you’d choose Sunny…or me. I don’t know which would be worse,”

“Definitely you,” the squad chorused unapologetically.

There was nothing unusual about the contents of this exchange. Gentle ribbing was all part of their general camaraderie, and had been for the past twenty five years. Today, however, it was muted; dull and grey, like rainwashed, winter skies. Try as they might to maintain some semblance of normalcy, the gloom of Serendibite’s impending departure was infectious.

“Batch 18CPX4, you have completed your supervision period and have been redesignated Platoon 5152A, under the command of Lieutenant Jasper, Facet A7LC Cut 1X7,” Serendibite informed them, “After the stroke of midnight, our professional relationship will be terminated. I will no longer be your Supervisor. However, as quartzes- as my quartzes- I expect you to acquit yourselves on every mission you undertake. Rest assured, I’ll still be checking up on your asses two hundred years from now. I’ve just got your final reports to file, and then we’re virtually finished here,”

“We’ve still got a few hours before you’re officially gone,” Ginger piped up, hoisting herself out of the bath, “We could pile up. You know, one last time…before you go?”

“I don’t really have the time,” Serendibite said with reluctance, “I’ve got to get these reports filed because I’m escorting you to the Summit tomorrow,”

“Come on, Serendi,” Tricks wheedled, “It’s the last time. Just this once. Do you really want to be stuck in your office while the rest of us bang? A-And! We all know JJ doesn’t fuck, but she’d stick around for a while- right, JJ? For Serendi’s last night with us?”

Thirty pairs of eyes swivelled towards Jasper in expectation of a positive response. To her surprise, she barely hesitated before nodding. The fact that she might never see Serendibite again after today had…shaken her. She wasn’t worried or scared. Those were emotions a quartz could not afford to experience- but she felt off-kilter, weak, and not a little frustrated.

“Yeah,” she swallowed, voice thick with emotion as she clambered off Frizz, “I’ll…be there. Better get a head start on my supervision duties. Someone’s got to make sure Goldy doesn’t snap her cock again,”

“What the shit, JJ?” Goldy called amidst hoots of laughter, “That was one time!”

“Stick to a pussy, Goldy!” Trip advised, “You probably won’t break that so easy,”

“It’s probably the last time we’ll see you, so we should do something to mark the occasion,” Jasper continued, ignoring Goldy’s attempts to force Trip’s cackling head under the water, “And these fuckers need to repay you for putting up with their wank all these years. Are you really going to say no to some tail?”

“Give me an hour,” Serendi relented immediately, “I can’t believe you sicked JJ on me, Tricks, you wily bitch. You know I can’t say no to her,”

“Yeah, and you wouldn’t say no to her either!” Pip hooted.

“I’ll finish these reports and I’ll meet you in your block,” Serendibite sighed, ignoring the suggestive hollering of the newly graduated platoon, “You all wash your asses and don’t leave this place a mess,”

“What’s she need us to wash our asses for?” Hawk muttered, craning her neck to watch Serendibite leave. 

“Sounds to me like Serendi likes anal!” Lexi shouted, “Who’s brave enough try?”

“I could shove my club up your ass,”

“Why though?”

“It’s probably broadly the same sensation,”

“Yeah, she could cause blunt force trauma with that thing,”

Although she found the topic of discussion extremely asinine, Jasper was glad that everyone was too distracted by the debate over whether Serendibite was interested in anal sex to notice her despondency. The cloak she wore was a heavy weight on her shoulders- one she wasn’t certain she was fit to bear. She could never expect to fill Serendibite’s boots, and she would only embarrass herself if she tried to. Yet she had to try nonetheless. Serendibite was entrusting her with this; even suggesting that she had high hopes for her. Jasper was loathe to reject this offer- thus spurning Serendibite’s trust in her- when it was clear that they were unlikely to cross paths again after today. It would feel like a betrayal.

She was so consumed by the problem of her own defectiveness that she failed to notice Megs sidling up to her until she spoke.

“You know this is your last chance, right?” Megs murmured. Her voice could barely be heard over the excitable chatter of their platoon. Her vague remark required no context for Jasper to immediately understand what she meant.

“I don’t do that,” Jasper said tersely.

“And that’s your choice,” Megs acknowledged with a nod, “But everyone knows you’ve wanted to bone Serendi since day one. I guess we all just want to know what’s stopping you. She’d fuck you, no questions asked- and it’s not like you don’t get horny. You’re probably the horniest gem here. So what gives?”

“How can I be the horniest gem here if I never fuck anyone?” Jasper deflected brusquely, picking up a hairbrush as she pretended not to notice the sceptical look Megs was sending her.

“Maybe not, but I don’t know anyone else who sneaks off at least twice a day to finger themselves,” Megs said, “Anyway, I’m not here to talk about you being repressed. Well, OK, I am. But it’s not about you fingering yourself. And, you know, this is your choice and we respect that- but you never seem happy about it. I guess I was just…hoping I could help,”

She finished with an awkward shrug, rubbing the back of her neck. For a quartz, what she had just said was tantamount to sappy sentiment; and she plainly knew that too, or else she wouldn’t have looked so embarrassed after she had finished speaking. She must have really been worried about Jasper if she was willing to risk a gentle ribbing from her batch mates. In light of this, the only decent thing for Jasper to do would be to return the favour; to confide in Megs, after her friend had gone through the trouble of vaulting her own hardwired emotional repression in order to offer a helping hand to Jasper.

“Do you remember…,” she began, licking her lips, “Do you remember when I first came out of the ground? What I did?”

“Pfft, how could I forget?” Megs chuckled, “I mean, your grand total of victims of that week was like…OK you beat the shit out of ten of us, then you grabbed Sunny and Frizz by the dick- literally…and then you tried to fuck Serendi and Tricks because you were in heat, And then you pulled that shit with Sunny and Buffer in the barracks…Am I forgetting anything?”

“No, I think that’s pretty much everything,” Jasper said dryly.

“Alright. OK yeah,” Megs nodded to herself, “Wait, is that what this is about? That was twenty five years ago-!”

“Partly,” Jasper admitted grudgingly, “Do you remember when I confronted you afterwards? Because of the conversation I overheard? Do you remember what you said?”

“Uh,” Megs said with an apologetic grimace, “Can’t say I do, JJ. Sorry,”

“You said that I’m probably a great fuck, but a terrible soldier,” Jasper said, holding her hand up as Meg’s jaw dropped open, “Let me finish. You were talking to some of the others about me, and you said you wouldn’t trust me in the field because I’d probably get everyone killed by sucking dick instead of performing the mission. And some of them defended me…saying that I was in heat, I didn’t know any better. But even they admitted that there was something wrong with me,”

She paused to mull over her next words, fraught with guilt over the stricken expression on Megs’ face, but unwilling to stop until she had finished. If she was going to confess, she was going to confess everything.

“So I realised…,” she continued, “I realised that there was something wrong with me. Quartzes are supposed to dominate and control, but I wanted to be dominated and controlled. I knew nobody would respect me if they knew. I tried to use it…to weaponise it- but I just humiliated myself. And I realised that the only way I could earn your respect- yours and the respect of the others- was to make sure nobody saw me acting like that. So I…pulled back. The reason I’m here right now, as your Lieutenant, is because I made the decision to never let anyone see that side of me. And it paid off,”

She laughed, low and bitter. Her cloak clasp felt heavy against her chest, like a hot coal. She knew it wasn’t branding her, but it certainly felt that way. This was all worth it, though. It had to be.

“Megs, it’s not that I don’t want to- Gems, I want to!” she sighed, “I’ve always wanted to. It’s just that none of you would ever respect me again if you saw that side of me,”

Now that she had fully disclosed her most deeply held insecurity to one of the gems who had been responsible for precipitating its development in the first place, all that was left for her to do was wait for a response. She would know if she had made the right call, based on Megs’ reaction; and she wouldn’t have to wait long for an honest, forthright response, either. One of Megs’ defining characteristics was her lack of tact. 

Sure enough, Megs managed to close her swinging jaw and collect herself before turning to Jasper with a grimace.

“Are you saying that you’ve wanted to fuck all this time, but you don’t because of something stupid my dumb ass said twenty five years ago?” she asked. Her tone suggested self-deprecation, but her words unintentionally made Jasper feel like a fool. When Megs put it like that, Jasper’s fears seemed so irrational- and yet, the memory of how so many of her batch mates had objectified and ridiculed her during her earliest days stung nearly as much as it had back then. She was sure she’d made the right choice.

“It’s not just you,” she explained, “You’re not the only one. Even Serendi admitted that my…behaviour wasn’t normal. And she told me that I could become a ranking officer one day. I wanted that. I wanted you all to respect me, and I wanted to prove to everyone that I’m a great soldier. I would never have gotten this far if I’d let any of you see me acting like that,”

“Oh JJ,” Megs sighed, “We didn’t know. We thought we were just letting you…do you. Like…none of us understood why…we just assumed you weren’t interested, and that’s cool. We just wanted you to be OK. We…never asked what was up. We should have,”

“Well, you know now,” Jasper said shortly, setting down her hair brush with an odd sense of finality. She made to turn away, having decided that this conversation was over; but Megs had other plans.

“Ohhh no!” she said, gripping Jasper by the elbow, “No. We are gonna talk about this. Not talking about this is what got you into this mess in the first place…That, and me and the others being massive dildos to you back then,” 

“Megs-,” Jasper began.

“No, I need to tell you this,” Megs shook her head, silencing Jasper with a finger to the lips, “See, if we’d talked about this years ago, you wouldn’t have spent all that time stopping yourself from hopping on some dick. Yeah, we were assholes to you in the beginning, but we thought you knew…fuck, JJ, you’re the best of us. Militarily speaking, anyway. I’m obviously a superior lover-,”

“Don’t push your luck,” Jasper snorted.

“You want proof that we respect the fuck out of you? Ask anyone,” Megs insisted, gesturing expansively, “Ask everyone. We all knew you’d get the promotion because you were the obvious choice. And you’ve saved all of our asses more than once. I’m not going to claim you’re not an asshole- because, let’s face it, it’s basically required for membership to this squad- but you’re smart, you’re fast, you’re strong…you’re a hardass with a great ass, and I can’t think of a single gem here who doesn’t respect you. Anyways, my point is…you want to suck a thousand dicks? You suck a thousand dicks. We’re still going to respect you afterwards. Damn, I’d probably respect you even more if you managed that,”

As much as Jasper wanted to sustain an appropriately serious expression, Megs’ ridiculousness rendered that impossible. She turned away under the guise of checking her uniform in the mirror, but she had little doubt that Megs had caught a glimpse of her smile before she had managed to compose herself.

“Look, I’ll prove it,” Megs said, “Hey, assholes, you all respect JJ, right?”

There was a rumble of confused but emphatic confirmation.

“And you’d still respect her if she fucked everyone in the squad tonight?” Megs continued, grinning as Jasper turned to her with a deadpan stare, “You’d follow her orders and everything, right?”

Again, a positive response swept the bathing room. 

“Why, is she offering?” Vibe added.

“I’ll punch you in the crotch,” Jasper said.

“That’s where my gem is,” Vibe reminded her with a roguish grin.

“Yeah,” Jasper said pointedly, “I know,”

There was, of course, no real tension between them. However, their light-hearted mockery of each other successfully dragged the attention away from Jasper’s quandary, leaving her with her thoughts and Megs for company.

“Told you,” Megs said over the renewed hubbub, “And you know…if you don’t want sex, or don’t experience attraction, or…whatever. That’s your business. But you’ve said you do, and this might be your last chance to get it from Serendi- and everyone knows you want her. Seriously, JJ. Go for it. Don’t wait. Any of us could die on a mission tomorrow, and if I was you, I wouldn’t want my last thought to be “I should have sucked Serendi’s huge dick while I had the chance”,”

“I’m pretty sure my last thought would be “shit, I’ve fucked up”,” Jasper corrected her.

“Alright, whatever,” Megs shrugged, “But hey, if you do decide to bust that pussy wide open-.”

The hand over her mouth stopped her mid-flow.

“Never say that to me again,” Jasper grimaced, “What is wrong with you?”

“Too much,” Megs sighed, “But yeah. If you do decide to fuck Serendi…she likes em bare, OK? Just in case you want to go all or nothing,”

“Bare?” Jasper asked, with a wrinkle of her brow, “What do you-?”

“Shaved,” Megs clarified bluntly, “She likes shaved pussy. And, I mean…she’s not picky, either way. But if you really want to drive her wild, seeing your pretty coochie all hairless and smooth would do the trick. Good luck walking tomorrow,”

With those parting words, Megs clapped her on the shoulder and sauntered off, leaving Jasper blushing furiously and at the mercy of her racing mind. She was still contemplating her options when the room began to empty out an hour later, as everyone raced back to their accommodations for one last ribaldrous orgy with Serendibite. Megs was the last to leave. She had lingered for a suspicious amount of time, watching Jasper in a way she probably thought was careful, but was actually anything but subtle. Still, she was trying to help, in her own way.

Jasper ruminated over her options for so long that, by the time she looked up at her reflection in the mirror, her hair had begun to dry out. She stared back at herself, pinpointing the features which so enthralled the other members of her caste; but contemplating the dramatic curves of her buttocks, or the shape of her full mouth, brought her no closer to a resolution. She gave up.

She could not deny that she was on the cusp of surrender. The group’s flippant assurances of their unflinching faith in her leadership- regardless of her sexual proclivities- had cultivated a tantalising possibility within her mind. After decades of celibacy, could she really now end it all by gambling on the loyalty of her platoon and fucking her Supervisor? Had she really spent a quarter of a century worrying needlessly, or had she been right to be wary of the judgements of a bunch of immature quartzes? And what of Serendibite’s advice? Had she been right all along?

Jasper shook her head irritably. This speculation would solve nothing. It was merely an exercise in arrogant self-flagellation, and a conundrum she couldn’t possibly answer. Regardless of what could have, should have, might have been, Megs had not been wrong about Jasper’s limited window of opportunity. It was tonight, or not at all; and she didn’t much like the idea of dying beneath an enemy weapon, knowing that she hadn’t seized the day when she’d had the chance. On the other hand, she’d only just been promoted to lieutenant. Did she really want to jeopardise her rank so soon?

In the end, it was the cold imminence of Serendibite’s departure which catapulted Jasper into action. She had to decide, here and now. Snap judgements were a gamble she’d often undertaken in the field, but for some reason, this choice seemed more daunting than any she’d made before. 

She decided to go for it. She decided to trust in her squad and the bond they shared. She decided to take a leap of faith, and reached for the razor.

Act VII: the judgement of Paris

Megs parting advice was simultaneously unhelpful and bawdy. Jasper would have been an idiot to heed it; and yet, not ten minutes later, she was hurrying back to her accommodation block on rubber legs, having done exactly that and wondering whether she was making a terrible mistake. Nonetheless, she was resolved to see this through. Megs hadn’t been wrong about this being Jasper’s last chance to do what she’d wanted to since her earliest days; and she couldn’t deny that the thought of her impending seduction attempt set a tight, hot thrill throbbing in her lower belly and between her legs, exacerbated by the whisper of material over her sensitive, shaven pussy. She only hoped she wouldn’t be too obviously wet by the time she got there, at the risk of appearing over-eager. She may have resented her nickname, but she was well-aware that it was entirely fitting.

The accommodation block they had been assigned was identical to every other generic accommodation block they had occupied over the years. It was an oblong building made up of a single floor, onto which was crammed the barracks, a weapons store, and a clutch of administrative rooms (generally offices). It had been their home for the past year, but they were due to warp to Homeworld tomorrow, so that Jasper (and other newly promoted quartzes) could be invested into office with appropriately grandiose ceremony. 

It was their last night here, and their last night with Serendibite. The more Jasper thought about it, the more she became convinced that she would only regret it if she didn’t seize upon this final opportunity while it yet lay within reach. She must have been the only one in the platoon who didn’t yet know how it felt to swallow down the thick of Serendi’s dick, or to writhe around the expanse of her fingers; to claw at the bedclothes in an animalistic fervour, ruined, aching, broken down in the most deliciously decadent way. Jasper shuddered lightly, and sped up her stride. 

She was the last one to arrive- a fact which was not unexpected, considering how long she had lingered in the bathing room. Equally predictable was Serendibite’s continued commitment to her work; in spite of the fact that she was sitting in the midst of a pile of horny quartzes, she was focussing on a lengthy report with single-minded intensity. This was not going down well with the others.

“Come on, Serendi!” Frizz wheedled, “You can do that later. You can do us now,”

“Not all of you, I don’t think,” Serendibite said dryly, “I’m not that ambitious. And you won’t get me to drop this report, so quit trying,”

“Would you drop it for me?” Jasper asked. The words tumbled from her mouth without her say-so, but she didn’t regret them. Every pair of eyes in the room swivelled towards her, trapping her beneath the weight of expectation. It took quite an effort for her to ignore the other quartzes and fix her gaze on Serendibite instead- especially when comprehension dawned, and a wave of feverish murmuring swelled through the group.

“Diamond’s tits!” Poppy sword before Lia frantically hushed her.

With deliberate slowness, Serendibite flicked off her holopad and passed it to a bemused-looking Tricks. There was quiet caution within the depths of that narrow gold and black gaze, but heat had already begun to oust it as Jasper approached the low nest of mattresses and pillows the platoon had thrown together for their impromptu orgy. 

A trembling sigh fell from her lips, too loud in the silent room. She clenched her thighs together, trying to conceal the premature darkening of her uniform at her groin, but the sudden dilation of Serendibite’s pupils as her eyes flickered down Jasper’s body suggested that any attempt at nonchalance had been doomed by Jasper’s own lack of subtlety.

“Another of your tricks?” Serendibite said throatily, “We both know you’ve got a manipulative streak a mile wide,”

She paused with a sapient frown.

“You know I can’t stay, right? No matter what we do today?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Jasper admitted with difficulty, toeing off her boots, “There’s a good chance I’ll never see you again. And apparently, my…feelings for you are obvious. I’ve been encouraged to pursue this while I still can,”

“Did the gems who encouraged you to seduce me also tell you this celibacy thing you’ve been forcing yourself to stick to is stupid? Like I told you twenty five years ago?” Serendibite said with a pointed look. Apparently, she was incapable of resisting the urge to gloat.

“I thought you said there were plenty of quartzes who never fuck,” Jasper sniped, pausing with one knee on the mattress.

“Those quartzes don’t want to,” Serendibite returned, “Those quartzes don’t sneak off two or three times a day to fuck themselves because they’re repressed and too damn prideful to indulge their urges,”

Stung, Jasper sucked her teeth in silence. For once, no witty rejoinder presented itself, leaving her to admit her foolishness by omission. 

“Just fuck me,” she eventually sniped, clambering onto the mattresses. She relished the spreading cracks in Serendibite’s façade as she slinked over to her on hands and knees, tracking the tightening of muscles beneath oil black skin, and the thickening of Serendibite’s cock in her breeches. Any soldiers in Jasper’s path scrambled out of the way, even as their eyes tracked her ravenously, scorching her skin and heating her core. She wanted them, she remembered- all of them. She had kept her desires at bay for so long that it had become second nature to pretend otherwise, until she was alone in the woods somewhere; fingers gliding between her swollen lips, her whimpers muffled in the flesh of her own fist. Suddenly, she realised that there was no longer anything stopping her from having them. Perhaps she would, when she was done here. Perhaps she would have each of them in their turn, one after another, just as she’d fantasied about during her very first heat, leaving her wrecked and ruined and dribbling come from her cunt, her ass, her slack, enraptured lips. 

By the time she reached Serendibite, the dam had broken, flooding her with a roaring liquid heat, like a magma flow. Her cunt trembled, soaked without even being touched. She half wondered what would happen when she eventually was touched; if she would come apart like a broken droid, garbling nonsense, spasming, and shrieking. She hoped so.

 

As much as Jasper hadn’t expected Serendibite to seize her by the throat, rip into her uniform with avid, trembling fingers, and fuck straight up into her- as much as she hadn’t expected to choke and whimper past a brutal grip around her neck as she squirmed weakly around the fat cock spearing her sopping cunt- she had at least expected Serendibite to do something. Instead, Jasper was left to fidget impatiently while Serendibite watched her with the serene surety of a panther which knew its prey had nowhere to run. It was all deliberate. Jasper was an adept manipulator; she knew when somebody was attempting to play her like a lyre. To her chagrin, it was working. 

This was a calculated ploy. Serendibite was angling for some kind of a reaction- a specific reaction, even. She must surely have realised how provocatively she was sitting; legs spread wide as she leaned back on her palms, her restrained cock curving thickly towards her belly. The running jokes about her size may have been hyperbolic, but they were far from lies.

“And what do you want from me, exactly?” she asked.

“You know what I want,” Jasper frowned, gouging her palms with her own claws, “And you want me desperate and begging, don’t you?”

“What’s the matter?” Serendibite laughed, “I thought that’s what you wanted- remember?”

Sunny hadn’t been wrong about her all those years ago, when she’d complained that Serendibite was too noble to constitute an effective manipulator. She also hadn’t been wrong about Jasper’s skill in that regard, and her encouragement had led to Jasper honing those skills for use on missions. They had become surprisingly useful during confrontations with hostile humans and gem rebels, who were easily distracted by the flash of a nipple or the promise of her wet tongue as it glided over her lips. Serendibite didn’t know who she was dealing with. 

It was with an extreme effort of will that Jasper unfurled her fingers and slackened her muscles, and then crawled into the lee of Serendibite’s brawny thighs. Serendibite blinked at her, watchful and suspicious, but Jasper only returned a smile; lopsided, red-mouthed and wet, with a flash of tongue and perfect teeth.

“Oh, you’re going to make me say it?” she asked. She lowered her tone as she leaned up on her knees to look Serendibite straight in the eye, resting her hands on both of Serendibite’s breasts in a way which was supposed to look accidental, but was actually anything but. She savoured their slight curve and gentle give, and the bump of hard nipples through material. Serendibite shuddered imperceptibly, and Jasper’s smile grew.

“Alright,” Jasper said, “I want you to be the first to fuck my tight pussy- and I know it’s going to feel real tight, because I can see how big you are. You’re going to have to get me all wet for you, or you’ll never fit. But that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve been reliably informed that I’m…very juicy,”

She knew she was winning when Serendibite snapped the connection between their eyes to glance down Jasper’s body; drawing searing lines over cleavage, belly, hips, and groin, like a hot wire pressing into her flesh. Daringly, Jasper licked into Serendibite’s parted lips, tasting salt and metal, and feeling her breath flutter.

“I want it rough,” she continued, lips sweeping over Serendibite’s with every word, “I want you to bite my neck and hold me down. Do you like choking gems? I think I’d like you to choke me,”

Serendibite’s breath audibly hitched. Behind Jasper, a quiet “oh my fuck” reminded her of their attentive audience, yet she found that she felt no embarrassment or regret. All assurances that she could be as perverse as she wished without consequence had contributed to her unbridled, reckless lust for Serendibite- and the end result was explosive. She’d been unleashed, like a beast set free from its pen. It felt good. It felt right.

“You could fuck me and choke me at the same time, if you wanted to,” she breathed, her brain summoning up corresponding images to accompany her dialogue, “And pull my hair. I’d like that too. Do you think you could do that for me? Choke me and fuck me and pull my hair? You could anything to me. Whatever you want,”

Serendibite’s eyes were nearly black, smouldering like pits of hot tar. Of her irises, only a skinny ring of gold remained beyond her blown-out pupils. A muscle ticked in her jaw, and her cheeks glowed vibrantly green. She inhaled deeply, her great barrelled chest puffing out beneath Jasper’s fingers; and then she breathed out again. It hadn’t taken long to push her to breaking point. Serendibite was far from a weak gem- and indeed, it could be argued that she was one of the strongest; an implacable will forged of iron. But iron, strong as it was, could be brittle. Iron could snap. If Jasper pushed just a little more, Serendibite would do just that.

“Whatever…you…want,” Jasper repeated, silky-voiced and heavy-lidded. She darted forwards like a cobra, snagging Serendibite’s lip between her teeth and nipping it playfully. Serendibite’s eyes slipped shut for the space of a moment, as she shook her head with a twist of the lips which might have been called a smirk. 

“Oh you nasty little bitch,” she growled.

Jasper hardly had time to huff out a mocking laugh before a pair of colossal hands clamped around her hips and lifted her bodily into the air. Her gut twisted in shock as her arms windmilled inelegantly for a second, until she found purchase by grabbing onto Serendibite’s burly biceps. Now it was Serendibite’s turn to chuckle meanly.

“Whatever I want, hm?” she asked, “Well, I can believe that. I’ve never seen anyone so desperate for it,”

Jasper couldn’t deny it. Not when the evidence of her need lay so dark and damp along the root of her groin and down her thighs. She trapped a whimper behind her lips, but she was sure Serendibite heard it anyway. It tumbled out in the form of a mortifying squeak when she was abruptly drawn forwards, legs parting around the jut of tusks as Serendibite forced her way between Jasper’s thighs. One hand continued to support Jasper’s waist, but the other dropped down to grip the curve of an extremely ample buttock. Jasper tried to force herself to stop trembling, but it was virtually impossible. Her face burned as vermillion as her stripes.

“Mm, they weren’t kidding,” Serendibite rumbled, hot against Jasper’s groin. She would probably have bruises from the force of Jasper’s rigid grip on her arms, but there was nothing about her expression to suggest that the pain bothered her. Then she closed the gap, burying her nose against the seam of Jasper’s cunt and the protruding bud of her clit with a hot, tender pressure; snuffling at her there, scenting her, through her saturated uniform in shallow little bursts. Jasper rocked back against her with a weak cry.

The gold of Serendibite’s eyes shone bright and boiling, like the glow of twin eclipses in the darkness. Her vindictive amusement was palpable.

“Please tell me you’re hairless down here and I’m not just imagining it,” she said, withdrawing minutely. The tip of her nose was shiny and wet, and even as Jasper watched, Serendibite ran her long black tongue over her own lips, sucking Jasper’s slick into her mouth with a murmur of contentment. Jasper’s groin throbbed in response.

“I heard you liked it,” she said tremulously, straining towards Serendibite’s face, “Please,”

For an agonising moment, she feared that her plea would go unanswered, and Serendibite would continue holding her just out of reach; astride two great tusks, fingers delving into the flesh of her belly and ass, as she shivered plaintively. But then Serendibite moved back in, burrowing against Jasper’s cunt as her tongue delved into the swell of her labia through her suit- and Jasper whimpered as she curled up around Serendibite’s head, clawing at her mane. Only Serendibite’s powerful grip and the cradle of her tusks held Jasper aloft now, as Serendibite ran the flat of her tongue from perineum to clitoris in one firm glide. A pause, and then she nestled closer, drawing her tongue up the line of Jasper’s cunt so firmly that it parted beneath her touch. Jasper gasped, and Serendibite chuckled, circling Jasper’s clit in languid curls of her tongue. It was all velvet heat and smooth pressure, even deadened by cloth; and Jasper heard herself whimper before she could stop it. The seat of her uniform was drenched.

“Please,” she repeated, still held in the pincer of Serendibite’s hands and tusks. She did her utmost to roll back against Serendibite’s tongue anyway, ineffectual though her tiny movements were. She remembered the first time she had been touched like this; when Buffer had dropped between her thighs to kiss her, all tongue and heat and sweet, soft suction. Serendibite was more deliberate- less fervent- than Buffer had been, but her slow pace was in some ways more maddening than the animalistic way Buffer had devoured her slick, wanting cunt. Serendibite was drawing this out in payment for Jasper’s behaviour. Jasper would have been incensed if she’d been capable of such emotions in her heightened state of arousal. As it was, all she could do was grasp at Serendibite’s head while that tongue laced between her folds and flickered over her clit. She felt like a forest fire; burning, ravaged, out of control. She needed to be quenched, but Serendibite was merciless. When she pulled Jasper’s inner labia into her mouth- lapping at her, sucking her through the fabric of her uniform, humid and tingling, and one stocky hand roughly fondling her ass- Jasper almost sobbed.

“Fuck me,” she begged, “Please…just fuck me!”

“Mmm,” Serendibite hummed around her as she spasmed helplessly. Jasper was released with a wet suckling noise, and as her chest heaved and her cheeks shone red, Serendibite laughed at her expense. 

“I’m not done,” she grinned, “You like to play? Well, this is me playing,”

Abruptly, she tilted Jasper backwards and off her tusks, dropping her into her lap with a clap which stung Jasper’s ass. Jasper surged up onto her knees, digging them into Serendibite’s thighs cruelly, but her snarl was snuffed out by the bright sparkling pain of teeth in her throat, and the jolt of tusks bracketing her neck. She was pinned in place, just as she’d asked for; a hand cradling her shoulder blades, another winding around her hip, and teeth- sharp and painful and wonderful- bruising her throat. 

Her snarl became a rumble of contentment instead. She slumped in Serendibite’s grip as if drugged, tilting her head back in supplicating surrender. Sweat cooled on her skin, chilling her and drawing up her already sensitive nipples into prominent peaks beneath her uniform; but between her thighs, she ran as hot as ever. Her attempts to alleviate that intimate ache were thwarted by a hand at her wrist, and another infuriating chuckle at her throat.

“Just fuck me already!” she hissed, “What are you waiting for?”

“For a gem who wants nothing more than to be held down and fucked raw, you’re very bossy,” Serendibite smiled into her throat, “Don’t worry. I’ll fuck you soon enough. I just want to spend a little time exploring first- and can you blame me? You’re spoiling me here, JJ,”

Her hands fell down Jasper’s spine to spread around the thick of her ass, palming her plentiful buttocks with a carnivorous hunger. There was a gluttony about Serendibite’s movements, as she nibbled on Jasper’s throat and groped her so viciously that each roll of her massive palms opened Jasper’s ass and parted her cunt. Jasper was vaguely aware of the feeble modesty her uniform offered her, which was the only barrier preventing the gems behind her from being treated to the lurid sight of her drenched thighs and cheeks; the tight furl of her asshole gleaming with her slick, and the coy glimpse of her soft wet cunt. It wasn’t a concept she found unattractive.

Her platoon was being uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps they were worried about ruining the scene, or else reminding Jasper that they were there and accidentally precipitating her flustered withdrawal. They need not have worried. The remembrance of their presence alone was enough to warmly curl up Jasper’s insides, like a lit taper. She thought of them watching her come apart beneath Serendibite’s touch, wishing they could be the ones to taste and fuck her; that they could be the ones she would allow to yank her legs apart and thrust straight into her boiling core. A jolt in the pit of her belly, and her fervency heightened.

Her throat must have been swathed in ochre bruising by now, a honeyed sting which complemented the burn between her thighs and the rough fingers branding her yielding flesh. Abruptly, her ass and throat were released, and those hands fell on her shoulders, hooking both thumbs in her straps and peeling her uniform down to her hips. Serendibite’s hands were damp with Jasper’s desire, leaving little wet pinpricks on Jasper’s shoulders, the jut of her collarbone, her sternum. They shook imperceptibly as Serendibite peeled Jasper’s uniform down to her waist, and immediately settled on the heaviness of her supple breasts with a passion bordering on reverence. Jasper looked down into Serendibite’s flushed face, and saw her own debauched face mirrored back at her in those liquid black eyes.

“Diamonds, JJ,” Serendibite croaked, pinching Jasper nipples to watch her squirm, “Is there any part of you which isn’t so damn big and soft?” 

Her question must have been rhetorical. Even as she spoke, she slid a hand down amidst Jasper’s thighs and squeezed her cunt, rolling her clit between her plentiful lips until her mouth fell open in a husky moan.

“Even here,” Serendibite mused, grinning like a viper, “Now there’s a handful,”

“Just fuck me,” Jasper gulped, pitching towards her touch, “Please, just…anything…I-I need…please!”

She was begging and whimpering like a little concubine all done up in lace and frou-frou, not the powerful quartz lieutenant she actually was. The persistent pressure of social expectation rattled around in the back of her mind, but she was so consumed by her own need that her long-held anxieties were mere background noise within the static of her cloudy thoughts. 

“You’ve been celibate for twenty five years,” Serendibite said, her face bright with mirth, “I would have thought you had a little more control and patience than this,”

Her words and pace were leisurely as she slipped Jasper’s uniform down past her ribs and belly, and towards the breadth of her wide hips- but those eyes belonged to a ravening wolf. Serendibite’s control was precarious, even if she was projecting a well-composed artifice. The awed desperation with which she had fondled Jasper’s breasts and ass- had lapped at her cunt like she was sipping on ambrosia- demonstrated that she was no less needy than Jasper.

Wordlessly, Jasper clambered to her feet and finished the job, slipping her uniform down her thighs and throwing it off to one side in a careless (albeit unsteady) motion. She could have easily morphed it away, but there was something irreplaceably erotic about the slow, progressive baring of her flesh before her lover’s devouring gaze. Serendibite’s fragile restraint seemed on the verge of snapping as she focussed in on Jasper’s smooth pussy with a singular intensity. She stymied Jasper’s attempts to drop into her lap with a hand on her inner thigh, and another on her ass. Before Jasper could express her confusion, she was yelling out in rapture as Serendibite delved between her thighs to mouth her naked cunt.

“Oh fuck,” she whimpered, “Oh-!”

She clamped her thighs around Serendibite’s head, burying her teeth in her own fist. It was almost excruciatingly good without the barrier of cloth. Serendibite’s tongue lathed over her, up her, right into her folds and around her clit, flickering against it, so tender and smooth; and, oh, as it furled over her entrance, dipping in to taste the well of her slick, Jasper raked her claws over Serendibite’s shoulders until welts shone green across their broad expanse.

“Mmm,” Serendibite hummed, sitting back on her haunches as Jasper trembled like a dandelion in the breeze, “There’s no use trying to clean you up, is there? Might as well try to soak up a river with a rag,”

As if to prove her point, relinquished her grip on Jasper’s thigh and swiped a finger down the parting of Jasper’s cunt, gathering the wetness on its tip. When she held it up to the light, juices trickled down between her digits and over her knuckle. She chased the trail with her tongue, licking it up with a decadent moan. Jasper bit her lip, tasting iron.

“Buffer always said you tasted incredible,” She smiled in the face of Jasper’s agony, tracing around Jasper’s dripping hole with her fingertip. “I could eat you out all night. But you asked me to fuck you, and that’s what I’m going to do,”

With a vicious shove, she thrust her thick finger straight up into the wet vice of Jasper’s fluttering cunt. Jasper’s knees buckled as if struck. She would have fallen if Serendibite’s other hand hadn’t continued to support her ass. With a finger still inside her, Jasper was guided into Serendibite’s lap, back to chest and legs spread wide. Serendbite’s cock felt almost too large against her ass, a hefty length which was both thick and long. Between this and her abrupt face-to-face with the rest of her platoon (the platoon she’d had her back to since she’d first swanned in here, naively confident and chomping at the bit), Jasper was hurtled back into reality with a thud. Her insecurities rushed back in, and she reflexively attempted to close her thighs against the weight of thirty licentious pairs of eyes.

“I thought you wanted them to see this,” Serendibite purred, her tusks digging into Jasper’s neck, “Don’t you have that fantasy about being fucked by all of them?”

Jasper shivered but spread her legs anyway. Serendibite eased her finger out, leaving Jasper bereft and cold, and with nothing to distract her from the experience of being mentally ravaged by her own platoon. It was humiliating. It was arousing. It was both of these things, without one undercutting the other; and even as she blushed, she knew she was steadily drenching Serendibite’s uniform beneath her.

She had fought alongside these gems for decades, sharing every triumph and defeat, ever moment of happiness and every period of grief. She had seen them at their worst, and they had been witness to her greatest follies in their turn. They were more than a team. They were a single configuration of thirty gems joined into a seamless whole; a fusion without the moral bankruptcy and cowardice a real fusion normally entailed. As Jasper glanced at each gem in their turn- at their humid gazes, their restrained postures, the evidence of their excitement in their pants- she told herself to trust them once again; just as she had for the majority of her life. Her vulnerability and soft, open body enthralled- rather than repulsed- them. They had assured her they would still respect her in the morning, and they had given her no cause to doubt that.

“You’re such a pretty little thing,” Serendibite said, stroking Jasper’s sensitive belly with a damp hand.

“I’m the biggest here,” Jasper scowled, in spite of the gentle, pleasant warmth of Serendibite’s fingers, “Apart from you,”

“But you don’t deny that you’re pretty,” Serendibite observed, “Because you know you are. Just look at you- your thighs, your ass, your tits…that beautiful face, with those eyes and your damn eyelashes. And those lips! Gems, those lips would look incredibly wrapped around a dick. So thick and perfectly-shaped, just like the ones between your legs. Diamonds, JJ, you’ve got the most beautiful pussy…,”

As she praised Jasper’s body, she wound Jasper’s bushy mane into her fist and gathered it to one side- but Jasper was so absorbed by the hand caressing her belly, and the singularity between her wet, wanton thighs that this escaped her attention. She only noticed the cool breeze tickling her neck a split second before warmth ghosted over her nape- the warmth of hot breath raising goosebumps down her back and up her arms; and then the cool, unyielding pressure of tusks trapped her neck in place. She felt Serendibite chomp down on her nape just as three fingers curled into her, so thick and hard that they knocked her senses out for a good few seconds. Distantly, she felt her hips fly up of their own accord and her mouth dropping open in a soundless, enraptured howl. 

Her vision narrowed and her ears hummed, and she thought nothing could possibly feel more sublime than the tingling in her nape and the greedy stretch of her cunt around Serendibite’s fingers. That is, until those fingers started moving, hooking up into her with a precise beckoning motion which could only be achieved through experience and skill. At the first blunt rake of Serendibite’s fingers over a carefully-targeted, hypersensitive spot within Jasper’s molten heat, Jasper heard herself yell, bucking up so violently that she nearly dislodged herself from Serendibite’s lap. For one wild moment, she thought she was corrupting- because how else was she supposed to explain the convulsive, uncontrollable jittering of her lower body, and the loss of her senses within a fuzzy white mist?

“There we go,” Serendibite smiled, bracing her immense forearm over Jasper’s pelvis to keep her in pace, “Are you coming, or have I underestimated how wet you can get?”

Jasper mumbled something incoherent. She felt as if there was something weighing her tongue down. Serendibite frowned in thought, and experimentally drove her crooked fingers into Jasper’s weeping cunt a few times, rubbing the heel of her palm over Jasper’s clit on the edge of each inward thrust. Jasper strained against her grip, shouting and shaking and clamping her thighs around Serendibite’s arm as her toes curled and her eyes rolled. Serendibite’s hand was dripping.

“Definitely just wet,” Serendibite concluded, granting Jasper a merciful reprieve, “You’re messing up my uniform,”

“Fuck off,” Jasper rasped, scrubbing her hands over her face. The pressure around her neck fell away as Serendibite leaned back with a chuckle, rubbing Jasper’s flanks supportively.

“If you can’t handle it-,” Serendibite said.

“If you don’t fuck me, I’ll find someone who will,” Jasper snapped. Despite her bold words, she was rocking against Serendibite’s fingers in a way which belayed her professed intentions. They both knew she was only bluffing.

“Well, you won’t have a problem with that,” Serendibite returned, unperturbed, “Anyone in this room would fuck you. And you have that little fantasy about fucking all of them at once, don’t you? Maybe you should try that if I’m boring you,”

She fluttered her fingers within the wet clench of Jasper’s cunt and thumbed her clit, relishing her wavering cry with a mean chuckle.

“No?” Serendibite asked, “Should I continue?”

Jasper swallowed and nodded. If she had a heart, it would have been pounding by now; but as it was, the thrum of her life force in her ears was enough to throw her off-kilter. Wordlessly, she opened her legs, and bit her tongue, and pointedly ground down against Serendibite’s knuckles with a breathy sigh. She failed to replicate the explosive, belly-clenching sensation Serendibite had incited within her so easily, but it was something. She could come this way, she knew. Not as spectacularly as she was sure Serendibite could tip her over the edge, babbling and thrashing as if her gem was cracked; but it would do. 

Nonetheless, she was committed to coming with her cunt stuffed full with Serendibite’s dick- providing Serendibite was still amenable to this idea after Jasper had been such a brat to her. Jasper fully expected Serendibite to make her work harder for it this time around, in retribution for her rudeness, but it seemed that Serendibite was anything but predictable. That was probably to her advantage as a general; a maverick tactician was infinitely more useful to Yellow Diamond than a predictable one.

She gave Jasper no warning before driving all three fingers straight back into the dribbling, silken grasp of her searing centre, ripping a yelp from Jasper’s throat. Jasper pushed back down against them, screwing herself upon the jut of knuckles in an attempt to replicate the incredible bliss she’d encountered beneath Serendibite’s touch. She couldn’t reach it. Her frustration grew.

“I’ve got you,” Serendibite murmured, dangerously gentle, “Lean back against me…there, like that,”

Whatever magic or science or force of nature bolstered her skilled fingers, Serendibite employed it from the very instant that Jasper relaxed against her. Those curled fingers stretched Jasper open so beautifully, leaving her tingling and breathless as Serendibite laid the other hand over her pubis. The question of what she was doing sat at the tip of Jasper’s tongue- and she nearly bit it off when Serendibite pressed down on her pelvis while bowing all three fingers upwards. Jasper screamed, tearing through Serendibite’s forearms with her claws as she struggled away from that unbearable touch and pushed back into it. It felt amazing- too amazing; like lightning made liquid and poured into her, filling her up until her scalp prickled and her cunt spasmed. Her heels drummed on the floor, but Serendibite’s strength was prodigious. Jasper remained where she was, pinned in place more thoroughly than she’d ever thought possible. 

It mattered little that she was facing a crowd of quartzes when she was incoherent and sightless with pleasure. A steady mantra of “fuck fuck fuck!” bled from her lips as her head lolled back, clipping Serendibite’s tusks. She didn’t even feel it. She was clammy and shivery and feverish with want, but she was sure nothing had ever felt- could ever again feel- this impossibly good. Every time Serendibite’s fingers plunged into her, cold fire chased down her spine and the mess of her own excitement sluiced out of her like meltwater. 

Serendibite’s arms were riddled with deep scratches by now, but her pace only increased as Jasper tumbled towards the edge. She nuzzled Jasper’s neck, mindful of her tusks, and murmured into Jasper’s ear; sweet, filthy things which made Jasper’s toes curl and her pussy clench. Everything felt fuzzy and distant.

The rhythmic tightening of her cunt as she rose higher and higher must have hinted at how close she was. She was whimpering by now, an undignified, pathetic sound which would have made her cringe if she could hear it. Serendibite’s sweat was powerful in her nose, a spicy tang she dearly wanted to taste. A line of drool crept down her chin. 

The orgasm Serendibite wrenched out of her was so forceful that it took her by surprise, but Serendibite seemed to have expected it. She slipped her fingers free just as it hit, with a rumble of satisfaction which might have been words if Jasper could think clearly enough to comprehend them. A sudden tight twist in her belly and then she was screaming, her upper body jack-knifing forwards as she clutched at Serendibite’s arms like a life-line; knees drawing up, eyes squeezed shut, hips jerking against the iron band of Serendibite’s hold on her pelvis. She could faintly hear the muffled exclamations of at least a dozen voices as she gushed and gushed in ever decreasing spurts until her thighs trembled and her belly roiled and she gulped breathlessly, still grasping onto Serendibite’s forearm.

She had expected a reprieve, but it seemed that Serendibite was determined to torture her in lieu of giving her what she’d asked for. All three fingers slithered back into Jasper’s cunt even as it continued to quiver with aftershocks, puffy and reddened and dribbling copiously. Jasper gnawed her own forearm, catching Sunny’s eyes over the space between them. She noted the umber cheeks and wet uniform, realising she was the cause- that she had sprayed Sunny with her juices from six feet away- just as Serendibite fluttered her fingers in that familiar beckoning motion; and Jasper’s eyes slid shut.

“Oh f-fuck,” she gasped.

“Ease up on my arms,” Serendibite sniggered, “How am I going to explain to Yellow Diamond why I look like I’ve been mauled by a tiger?”

Jasper’s answer was a long, keening moan and another convulsive orgasm, rushing out hot and wet around Serendibite’s digits as she continued to finger Jasper through the aftershocks. It sprayed Serendibite’s hand and arm, and even her chest; splashing onto the mattresses beneath them and some of the closest gems.

“Let’s see how many I can wring out of you,” Serendibite decided, twisting her fingers into Jasper until she yelped. Jasper was at the mercy of her own body and Serendibite’s clever fingers, which managed to prise three more blinding orgasms from her over the next handful of minutes. She would call it torture, if torture had ever felt so good.

Serendibite’s pinkie was pressed into the crease between ass and inner thigh, and a sudden wild compulsion seized Jasper; a need to feel her ass struggle and stretch around a thick belt of fingers while her cunt was similarly plundered. She licked her lips, wildly enticed by the thought.

“Can you…,” she mumbled, abashed yet brazen, “Do that in…you know, the other hole too?”

“Oh?” Serendibite said at length, “You want me to finger your pussy and asshole at the same time?”

Jasper’s face flamed, but she nodded anyway.

“I guess I can’t expect any less from the gem whose biggest fantasy is being handed over to her platoon and fucked senseless by every last one of her soldiers, hm?” Serendibite mused with ill-concealed mirth. 

The hand which had hitherto held down Jasper’s pelvis veered off to the left and slipped beneath her ass, mercifully allowing Jasper to avoid saying anything on the issue of her depraved fantasies. She greeted the subtle brush of a forefinger over her asshole with a pleased little grunt, wriggling back into it while trying to avoid dislodging the fingers buried in her pussy.

“Hm, no lube,” Serendibite said, “But you’re so wet that it hardly matters. I’m sure we’ll manage,”

She was right. Jasper had been steadily leaking down the cleft of her ass for well over an hour, leaving her slippery enough that Serendibite’s fingertips were soon coated. The barest hint of trying pressure pushed against her, and Serendibite’s forefinger slid in to the last knuckle. The other hand was stationary as Serendibite worked her ass open; one finger, and then another, squeezing in alongside the first with a gentle, burning stretch. The slight sting felt good, adding a layer of nuance to her pleasure as Serendibite circled her clit with a thumb. With three fingers in both holes, she felt pleasantly filled; and, when they began to move in tandem, it took little time for her to arch up with a cry of Serendibite’s name, shaking and erupting in a powerful stream of ejaculate.

“Wow, that didn’t take long,” Serendibite remarked, as if referring to the weather, “You really like this, huh?”

She screwed her fingers into Jasper’s cunt while spreading those squeezed into her ass, and Jasper came again with a thin whine.

“F-Fu…fuck!” Jasper gasped, “Fuck!”

She felt bad for whoever owned the mattress she and Serendibite were occupying. It had to be thoroughly, irreparably saturated by now, and Jasper had just nullified any chance of salvaging it by tearing up great chunks of its upholstery with her claws. She’d slipped down Serendibite’s lap with the force of her orgasm, slumped against that broad chest with her legs thrown wide and two hands still working between her legs. Serendibite pulled one free to hike Jasper back up with a firm grip beneath her ass, smearing slick all over her left buttock. Jasper wriggled impatiently, her empty, clenching cunt bereft and wanting.

“Are you going to fuck me?” she asked throatily, “You said you would,”

“I’m not sure about that now,” Serendibite said, “I don’t know if you could handle it. Look at you- you’re shaking,”

That wasn’t the answer Jasper had been searching for. She felt almost cheated, despite the absurdity of such thoughts. Serendibite was, after all, under no obligation to fuck her any more than Jasper was obliged to let her. Nonetheless, she squirmed in Serendibite’s grasp until she could find purchase on her knees, then raised herself off the fingers in her ass with a grimace. She relished the visceral rawness, but disliked the emptiness.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Serendibite asked with a tiny smirk tugging at her lips. She watched Jasper turn in her grasp and shakily clamber back into her lap, without raising a finger to stop her. Beneath Serendibite’s challenging gaze, Jasper felt secure enough to push a little- and push she did, curving her hand around the broad profile of Serendibite’s cock through her uniform. After a brief moment of contemplation, she skidded her knees apart and back, lowering her upper half until her face was level Serendibite’s dick. Serendibite’s breath hitched. Jasper bared her teeth in an animal grin.

She knew what she must look like- shaky, sweaty, flushed, and hypersensitive as she crouched on her elbows, mouthing Serendibite through her uniform; ass shamelessly raised in the air to display her glistening cunt and reddened, stretched asshole to the quartzes behind her. She heard somebody groan, and it wasn’t her or Serendibite.

“Playing games again, I see,” Serendibite said. She sounded less steady than she had done previously.

“No,” Jasper smiled, ripping material between her claws, “Not at all. You know what I want,”

There was nothing subtle about the way Serendibite’s dick stood hard in Jasper’s grasp, leaking pearly-white down its wide shaft. It was heavy, long, and thick, and Jasper couldn’t resist pursing her lips around the head to taste it.

“Dick sucking lips,” Serendibite said. Jasper smirked around her cock and felt it twitch against her tongue, tasting brine and iron as she sucked away the fluid blooming at its crown. She released it with a wet pop, licking her shiny lips. Serendibite’s breath hitched.

“Fuck me?” Jasper asked again, trapping Serendibite’s cock between her breasts.

“You don’t like to lose, do you?” Serendibite said, “Always pushing yourself. You know, one day, you’re going to go too far and fuck yourself over,”

“Hasn’t happened yet,” Jasper smiled, moulding the heavy spill of her breasts around Serendibite’s shaft; enveloping it in their soft, yielding warmth. Serendibite huffed through her nose like a bull and snatched Jasper up with a velvet growl, drawing her in with both hands on her ass. Jasper went willingly, inviting Serendibite into the spread of her thighs. She sighed when Serendibite’s cock nudged her cunt, parting her thick lips around its head without pushing inside.

“Damn that looks good,” Serendibite ground out, her voice strangled by lust, “Gems, imagine how good you’ll look when I’m fucking that tight little snatch of yours,”

“I’m not little,” Jasper said, jerking against Serendibite’s cock.

“No,” Serendibite acknowledged, “But I’ll bet you’re going to feel tiny around my dick,”

That was a challenge Jasper decided to meet head on. Unsteady though she was, Jasper could not resist the temptation to satiate herself one final time, with Serendibite’s girth buried root-deep within her. She parted her labia between the vee of her fingers and canted her hips until she felt the blunt dome of Serendibite’s cock butt up against her hole. With a grunt, she pushed down; and then suddenly, the head popped in, intimidatingly, alluringly massive. She paused with a sharp gasp, pinching her nipples as she twisted her pelvis in tight, jerky circles to open herself up around Serendibite’s substantial circumference. Her cunt spasmed and drooled down the shaft, as if trying to grip onto the intruder and draw it further into its gluttonous embrace. 

Slowly, incrementally, she began to lower herself. It smarted a little around her taut entrance as her aching pussy fought to accommodate something so large, but it went in so sweet, right into the soaking, searing clench of her. A sudden brush of clammy, tattered material against her groin, and she realised she had taken it all, pursing around the base in a lurid echo of the way she had teased Serendibite with her mouth only a few minutes previously. 

Serendibite groaned, dropping her head onto Jasper’s shoulder. Her fingers were etching bruises onto Jasper’s hips, spots of stinging vermillion Jasper hoped would still be there tomorrow. She squeezed her own breasts with a sigh, circling her hips tightly to savour the hot, deep fullness.

“Put your fingers back in me,” she said, trusting that further elaboration was unnecessary. She was proven correct when Serendibite forced all three back into her tender asshole with a rumble of approval. Jasper bucked, moaning softly and sliding up an inch or so before gravity did its work, and she slipped back down to the base.

“Fuck me,” she said for the umpteenth time, watching the torchlight dance over Serendibite’s blown pupils. This time, her request was granted. She was pitched onto her back with her legs still locked around Serendibite’s hips, and her hair trapped beneath her uncomfortably as she stared up at the ceiling in surprise. The angle placed all of her weight on her shoulders and elbows, and the fingers within her ass slipped out of her, but she couldn’t find it in her to complain when Serendibite spread apart her cunt between two thumbs, admiring her soft, plump outer labia, and the delicate red of her folds where they wrapped around the cock plunged into her welcoming heat. Jasper’s head lolled to the side, her eyelids at half-mast.

“How am I supposed to only have you once and be content with that?” Serendibite breathed, sliding her hands away to grip Jasper’s hips. She rocked in shallowly, just a few short, quick rolls of her hips; but Jasper’s toes curled all the same. She was so full- so brimming- with it; pulsing and clenching, all liquid heat and hard scarlet nipples. She shoved back with elbows and shoulders, spreading her legs to take in as much as she could. Hair tickled her where she sat flush with Serendibite’s groin. 

Without a word of warning, she was abruptly caught beneath the knees and pushed off Serendibite’s lap, her legs bent double against her belly as Serendibite loomed over her. It was a restrictive position; bodily weighed down, calves held in a steely grip, her breasts forced together between her knees. The change in position pushed Serendibite out halfway, but she immediately righted that in a single, smooth glide. Jasper hissed, her claws slicing through upholstery as she fought to ground herself.

With long, sensuous undulations of her hips, Serendibite finally began to fuck Jasper- slowly, at first, but then faster as Jasper murmured a wordless complaint, attempting to ram herself back onto Serendibite’s dick. Her position prohibited excessive movement, but her enthusiasm and impatience were equally clear. It was almost too good, those practiced thrusts sliding into her deepest most recesses; warm and filling, dipping into her core to rake out her desire like molten slag at the base of a furnace- and out poured the boiling liquid from within, profuse and viscous as it spilled down her ass and coated Serendibite’s pistoning cock. Jasper could hear her cracked voice moaning.

“Harder,” she demanded, high and breathy, “Harder, harder, fuck-!”

“Like this?” Serendibite snarled, hips snapping against Jasper’s with an eye-watering clap, over and over again until a shaky moan was jarred out of her with every thrust. Serendibite’s adonis belt was tough with muscle, in contrast with the pillowy give of Jasper’s ass and thighs, so these harsh, repeated impacts were beginning to infuse Jasper’s buttocks with a rosy glow. The low burn licked over her skin like so many tongues, and she hazily wondered how it would feel if somebody really did lick her there; gliding over her ruddy cheeks and delving in between to lap at the finger-stretched ring of her hole. She bit her lip with a groan, quaking around the length within her until Serendibite swore and picked up the pace. The onslaught was intense, forcing the breath out of her in a strangled, wavering yelp with each piercing lunge. It was fast and brutal, and the thick head of Serendibite’s cock proved a more than adequate replacement for her fingers as it dragged over Jasper’s walls, sending involuntary spasms through her cunt. She could feel it drawing up in her belly like a hook beneath her navel, pulling deliciously taut and tight, more and more, as Serendibite’s hips battered against her ass; until she felt herself on the edge of a precipice, her eyes rolling, mouth slack and drooling, fingers scrabbling against the mattress beneath her- and then a thumb pressed into her swollen clit, and she howled, bucking up so violently that even Serendibite’s grip could not prevent her to springing her hips up; braced on her shoulders, Serendibite’s cock sliding out of her as a hasty grasp closed around her ankles, her back bowing, her orgasm bursting from her in an energetic gush. Her vision fuzzed out behind her eyelids and the wind seemed to roar in her ears. She tasted metal, and wondered if she’d bitten her tongue.

“Oh, oh…fffuck!” she whimpered, going slack, “S-Serendi…,”

Above the low murmur of her squad’s indistinct (but assuredly lewd) commentary, Jasper heard Serendibite laugh quietly. The emptiness within her told her that Serendibite had not come yet, and that was a state of events she urgently wanted to rectify. She would end this night with her pussy oozing Serendibite’s ejaculate- she was determined to. Coherent words may have been beyond her at this moment, but she got her point across by spreading her shivering legs and parting her wet folds with her fingers.

 

“Come in me,” she mumbled, “Please,” 

Serendibite required no further encouragement. She surged forwards, yanking Jasper’s thighs apart and plunging back into her. Jasper whimpered with aftershocks, but held herself as still as she could as Serendibite fucked her. Serendibite’s black muscles gleamed like polished jet as she steamed and grunted, her hair sticking to her forehead and her flushed cheeks. When she came, it was nearly soundless; a soft, hitched breath and a final grunt, followed by a quiet sigh. With her head bowed, she held Jasper’s hips against her in a bruising grip, bursting deeply within her in a series of hot pulses. Finally, she slid out, replacing her cock with her fingers- but this time, her quarry didn’t appear to be fingering Jasper to another orgasm. She groped around, curling her digits to gather up her own mess with appalling wet noises which made Jasper shudder.

“Turn around and show them,” Serendibite ordered, “Show them what I’ve done to you,”

Sluggishly, Jasper dragged herself up onto her knees, turned around, and dropped back onto her ass. This was the first time she had faced her squad since she’d marched in here and demanded that Serendibite fuck her, and the reminder that they had been present for the entirety of her debauchery gave her pause. They were all flushed and slack-jawed, staring at her with new eyes as their dicks tented their pants. Normally, at least some of them would opt for a pussy- but it seemed that they were all overcome with the longing to fuck her, just as Serendibite had. Jasper knew she would let them if they asked.

“Ten orgasms and you’re still moving,” Sunny quipped with forced nonchalance, “Does that mean you could fuck ten gems one after another?”

At this moment, Jasper could have rebutted Sunny. She could have made it perfectly clear that nobody was to entertain notions of passing her around like a cheap trick, using her libidinous body to slake their lusts. She could have…if the thought wasn’t such an appealing one.

They had promised her they would respect her, regardless of her proclivities. If that was true, she no longer had reason to hide away.

“Ten,” she said, sitting back with her legs wide apart, “Or all of you,”

She felt no hesitation or shame as she deliberately parted herself to flaunt her red, red folds and the creamy-white come leaking from her hole; only a deep, hot thrill as she revelled in her squad’s lustful attention, and the possibility that her idle fantasies could well become reality.


End file.
